Civil servant, police officer, soldier.
Born at Aldershot, England on 7 March 1876, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Lawrence Clarke, he was educated at the Tavistock Grammar School at Devonshire, England. He came to Canada in 1913 and worked in the Winnipeg City Tax Department.
He served with British military forces in India and, during the Boer War, he received the Queens Medal (5 Clasps), King’s Medal (2 Clasps), and Infantry Long Service Medal. During the First World War, he joined the CASC of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1915, transferred to the 61st Battalion (Major) and was Second in Command in France by December 1916. He commanded the Brighton School before returning to Canada in November 1917 and serving as Assistant Chief of the Dominion Special Police Force for administration of the Conscription Act. He then resumed his position in the Winnipeg City Tax Department until February 1920 when he was appointed Inspector of the Manitoba Provincial Police. He retired in February 1923 and was appointed Sheriff of the Southern Judicial District, based at Morden, in December 1923.
In 1908, he married Catherine Hamblin. They had two sons: Lionel Clarke and Arthur Clarke. He was a member of the Masons and the Anglican church, and enjoyed golf and tennis. In 1925, his address was the Morden Court House.
He died at Brandon on 3 July 1935, after being stricken while serving at Camp Shilo, and was buried in Brookside Cemetery.
Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 July 1935, page 16.
“Major W. G. Clarke stricken in camp, dies in hospital”, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 July 1935, page 6.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 18 December 2011
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