Marshal Clarke

Lieutenant Colonel
Sir Marshal James Clarke
KCMG
1st Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia
In office
5 December 1898 – 1 April 1905
Succeeded by Richard Chester-Master
2nd Resident Commissioner in Zululand
In office
1893–1898
Governor Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson
Preceded by Sir Melmoth Osborn
Succeeded by Charles Saunders
1st Resident Commissioner in Basutoland
In office
18 March 1884 – 18 September 1893
Monarch Victoria
Succeeded by Godfrey Yeatsman Lagden
Personal details
Born 24 October 1841
Tipperary, Ireland
Died 1 April 1909 (aged 67)
Enniskerry, Ireland
Spouse(s) Annie Stacy Lloyd (m. 1880)
Children 3
Alma mater
Military service
Allegiance British Empire
Years of service 1863–1883
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Unit Royal Artillery
Battles/wars First Boer War

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Marshal James Clarke KCMG (24 October 1841 – 1 April 1909) was a British colonial administrator and an officer of the Royal Artillery. He was the first Resident Commissioner in Basutoland from 1884 to 1893; Resident Commissioner in Zululand from 1893 to 1898; and, following the botched Jameson Raid, the first Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia from 1898 to 1905.

Clarke drew praise from the economist John A. Hobson in his treatise Imperialism for his devotion to the education and development of the native people of Basutoland, while Viscount Bryce noted that his approach fostered goodwill amongst native people towards Britain. In Zululand, Clarke granted considerable authority and special judicial functions to the hereditary chiefs; and was commended by Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of Natal, for his action in the face of potential famine.

Early life

Clarke was one of the sons of Reverend Mark Clarke, an Anglo-Irish clergyman of the Church of Ireland and Maria Hill.[1] He was born in Tipperary, educated at a private school in Dublin and studied at Trinity College, Dublin.[2]

He went on to study at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich[1] and was made a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in February 1863.[3]

He served in India, where he lost an arm to a tiger.[2]

Moving to Africa, he was Resident Magistrate of Pietermaritzburg in 1874.[2] He was made up to Captain in December 1875.[4] He was Aide-de-Camp to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the Special Commissioner of South Africa in 1876 on his mission to the Transvaal.[2] He was appointed Special Commissioner to South Africa in 1876.[5] He was Political Officer and Special Commissioner of Lydenburg in 1877.[6] During the First Boer War, Clarke was twice mentioned in despatches.[2][5] He was brevetted Major in April 1880 in recognition of his services during operations in South Africa[7] He was Resident Magistrate of Basutoland in 1881.[1] He was promoted to Major in November 1882.[8] He was Commissioner of Cape Police in 1882.[1] He was commanding a Turkish Regiment of the Egyptian Gendarmerie in 1882.[6]

He retired in March 1883 with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.[9]

Basutoland (1884–1893)

Clarke was appointed the first Resident Commissioner in Basutoland (today Lesotho) and took office in March 1884.[10] In the preceding years, Basutoland had become unruly and the British Imperial Government decided to separate it from the Cape Colony and place it under direct British control.[11] In 1879, an uprising by Chief Morosi was quelled but led to intertribal Basuto strife over the partition of his land. The Cape government sought to regain control in 1880 by extending the Cape Peace Preservation Act of 1878 to Basutoland, which provided for the disarmament of natives. Attempts to enforce the law resulted in the Basuto Gun War of 1880 to 1881. Unrest continued until it was agreed in 1884 to make Basutoland a crown colony in its own right.[12]

Clarke served until 1893.[6]

James Bryce (later Viscount Bryce) after his tour of Southern Africa in 1897, noted in his Impressions that, while the British authorities suppressed the more "noxious" customs of the native people, Europeans were not allowed to own land and mineral prospectors were forbidden.[13] Bryce further commented that Clarke's firmness combined with tactfulness had avoided disorder in the territory and inspired goodwill towards the British government.[14]

John A. Hobson, in Imperialism, A Study (1902), says that Clarke in Basutoland, along with other administrators like Sir George Grey and Lord Ripon, "...brought sympathy and knowledge to the establishment of careful experiments in self-government."[15] Hobson compares the approach to imperialism in Basutoland with that in Rhodesia and the Cape Colony, noting that "in the former it is devoted to protecting and aiding the education and development of the native people, while in the latter two, the policy allows for the exploitation of the people and lands by white colonists."[15]

Zululand (1893–1898)

Sir Marshal Clarke succeeded Sir Melmoth Osborn as Resident Commissioner and Chief Magistrate in Zululand in June 1893. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson was appointed successor to Sir Charles Mitchell as Governor of the colony in August 1893, as well as Governor of Natal, which was to gain responsible government two months later.[16]

The conclusion of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 had resulted in the imprisonment of the Zulu king Cetshwayo on Robben Island and the division of the Zulu Kingdom into 13 chiefdoms. In 1883, after John Colenso, Bishop of Natal, appealed on his behalf, Cetshwayo was released and restored to power, and Osborn appointed as Resident Commissioner. Zibhebhu kaMaphitha, one of the Zulu chiefs, gathered a powerful army against Cetshwayo and in July 1883 defeated him in Ulundi, destroying his kraal, and massacring both men and women. Cetshwayo escaped injured but died in February 1884, leaving his son Dinuzulu to inherit the throne.

In February 1890, Dinuzulu and his uncles Ndabuko and Tshingana were captured by the British, and imprisoned on St Helena for leading a force against them.[16] Bishop Colenso's daughter, Harriette, intervened on their behalf in London.[16] On her return to Zululand in August 1893, Clarke invited her to his residence in Etshowe. While there, she was visited by Zulu from across the land.[17] She persuaded them that Clarke's appointment was beneficial to them and Clarke was nicknamed uKwezi by the Zulu, meaning Keeper or Protector. A sign of this was the release of a number of Dinzulu's followers, known as uSutu, prisoners.[18]

Clarke took up the question of the return of the exiles from St Helena, although did not decide the issue immediately.[18] He began the process for the return of Dinuzulu and sought to harness the authority of the Zulu leader to the administration.[19] His report to London recommended their return.[20]

In January 1895, the exiles received notice of their return to Zululand with an official position for Dinuzulu. Their departure was set for February 1895 but was delayed after Ministers in London recommended that Zululand first be annexed to Natal.[21]

His tenure marked a difference in policy: instead of trying to divide and rule and undermine the power of the hereditary chiefs, he granted considerable authority to them.[19] He gave special judicial functions to Hlubi of the Basotho, Mehlokazulu of the Ngobese and Mpiyakhe of the Mdlalose, enabling them to try certain cases referred to them by Resident Magistrates.[22] However, when Clarke was appointed Resident Commissioner in Rhodesia in 1898, Charles Saunders replaced him and he bowed to pressure from settlers and officials to minimise Dinuzulu's influence over the Zulu people, especially during the Second Boer War.[23]

Clarke had to deal with four natural disasters during his tenure.[24] An outbreak of smallpox in 1894 was the result of labour migration and men returning from working in Witwatersrand.[24] When it proved too costly for the people, he waived the charge for the vaccination.[24] Locust swarms in 1894 and 1895 caused damage to crops and resulted in famine in 1896.[24] The government response was to offer the chief of each tribe a reward of 3 d for every muid of locusts collected as well as cattle to slaughter when a swarm was eradicated.[24] At the same time, Clarke bought 1,090 muids of quick-growing mealies to be given on payment to families requiring immediate relief, a measure of which Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of Natal, approved: "It is better to err on the side of unnecessary expenditure than to run the risk of exposing the people to starvation."[24] Finally, in 1897, an outbreak of rinderpest killed many cattle and the government responded with a programme of inoculation.[25]

Southern Rhodesia (1898–1905)

Clarke was Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia from 1898 to 1905.[26] As a result of the debacle of the Jameson Raid in the winter of 1895–1896, the imperial government determined by order in council to appoint a permanent Resident Commissioner to supervise the affairs of the British South Africa Company in Southern Rhodesia.[2] Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, offered the role to Clarke, whose impressive administrative career was an indication of the importance of the role.[27]

Clarke reported directly to the High Commissioner for Southern Africa based in Johannesburg, Alfred Milner, who in turn reported to the Colonial Office in London.[26]

The Second Boer War gave Clarke cause for concern at the end of 1899 and he requested aid from Britain for the defence of Rhodesia.[28] He was particularly concerned with the possibility of Africans avenging their recent defeat in the Second Matabele War by joining forces against the government. So, along with the native commissioners, he summoned and addressed indabas around the country to reassure the Africans that they would be protected and would not be called to fight, so could continue to pursue their peaceful occupations as normal.[29] During this time, Africans deserted the mines, keeping their options open and "watching events".[30]

Clarke was a critic of migrant labour schemes, which were designed to attract foreign labour to Rhodesia, and in 1900 he defended the rights of indigenous labour against infringement by foreign Africans from Mozambique, Nyasaland, Zambia and South Africa.[31] He expressed his view, contrary to that of Lord Milner, that most Rhodesians were opposed to the introduction of Chinese labour, which was the subject of questions from Charles Trevelyan, Member of Parliament for Elland, in the House of Commons in 1904.[32][33]

Honours

He was made Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in April 1880,[34] and promoted to Knight Commander in 1886.[35]

He was granted authority to wear the insignia of the Third Class of the Order of the Medjidieh in November 1883 conferred on him by Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, as authorised by Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in recognition of his services in the employ of the Khedive.[36]

Personal life

Clarke married Annie Stacy Lloyd, daughter of Major General Banastyre Pryce Lloyd in 1880 and had three children: Elizabeth Clarke (17 June 1885 – 26 July 1952), Admiral Sir Marshal Llewelyn Clarke (9 May 1887 – 8 April 1959) and Brian Lloyd Clarke (30 September 1888 – 19 April 1915).[1]

Clarke died suddenly on 1 April 1909 of pneumonia at The Lodge, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland.[37]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Lt.-Col. Sir Marshal James Clarke". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Warhurst 1999, p. 223.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 22717. p. 1514. 17 March 1863. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 24273. p. 6300. 7 December 1875. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "British Resident in Rhodesia". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 May 1898. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Sir Marshal Clarke". The Straits Times. 7 April 1909. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 24835. p. 2601. 20 April 1880. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25179. p. 6457. 19 December 1882. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25216. p. 1697. 27 March 1883. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Sloley 1917, p. 112.
  11. ↑ Sloley 1917, p. 111–112.
  12. ↑  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Basutoland". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 505–506.
  13. ↑ Bryce 1897, p. 422.
  14. ↑ Bryce 1897, p. 342.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Hobson 1902, Part 2 Chapter IV.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Colenso 1895, p. 3.
  17. ↑ Colenso 1895, p. 4.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Colenso 1895, p. 5.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Hamilton 1998, p. 131.
  20. ↑ Colenso 1895, p. 7.
  21. ↑ Colenso 1895, p. 14.
  22. ↑ Unterhalter 1978, p. 64.
  23. ↑ Hamilton 1998, p. 132.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 Unterhalter 1978, p. 66.
  25. ↑ Unterhalter 1978, pp. 66–67.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Cranefield 2002, p. 18.
  27. ↑ Keppel-Jones 1983, p. 556.
  28. ↑ Keppel-Jones 1983, p. 595.
  29. ↑ Keppel-Jones 1983, p. 602.
  30. ↑ Keppel-Jones 1983, p. 603.
  31. ↑ Fisher 2010, p. 134.
  32. ↑ Chinese Labour in Southern Rhodesia. (HC Deb 6 June 1904 vol 135 cc792-3)
  33. ↑ Chinese Labour in Rhodesia. (HC Deb 8 June 1904 vol 135 cc1078-9)
  34. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 24831. p. 2431. 6 April 1880. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  35. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25592. p. 2634. 29 May 1886. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  36. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25592. p. 5381. 13 November 1883. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  37. ↑ "Domestic Announcements – Deaths". South Africa. April–June 1909. Retrieved 23 November 2012.

Bibliography

Further reading

Journal articles

Papers

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
new post		 Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia
1898 – 1905 		Succeeded by
Richard Chester-Master
Preceded by
Sir Melmoth Osborn		 Resident Commissioner in Zululand
1893 – 1898 		Succeeded by
Charles Saunders
Preceded by
new post		 Resident Commissioner in Basutoland
1884 – 1893 		Succeeded by
Godfrey Yeatsman Lagden