Appointment of Edward Clarke manuscript, [1690]

Edward Clarke (1649/1651-1710) was an English poitician. The only son of gentleman Edward Clarke of Chipley, Somerset (died 1679) and Ann Knight of Buckinghamshire, Clarke matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford in 1667 and was called to the bar in 1673. He married Mary Jepp (1650s-1705) in 1675 and the two had 11 children between 1676 and 1694, eight of which survived infancy. A Whig, Clarke entered Parliament in 1690 as deputy lieutenant in the county of Somerset and was a close associate of English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). Most notably, Clarke was involved in the Licensing of the Press Act (1695), the Great Recoinage (1696), and the Woollen Act (1698). He died at Chipley, Somerset, in 1710.

Sources

Goldie, Mark. "Clarke, Edward [called Edward the Grave, Standard Clarke] (1649x51–1710), politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,<xslif test="normalize-space($chicagoOnlinePubDate)"> September 23, 2004</xslif>. https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1093/ref:odnb/37290.