Catalogue description Clarke Family Papers

Diaries, correspondence, legal documents and miscellaneous items.

Clarke family of Hyde, Cheshire

Depositor: Unknown, via Hyde Library

Accession: 0007

Accession date: 1984

• Hyde, Cheshire

Captain Hyde John Clarke, Esq. (1777-1857), a relation of George Clarke (1676-1760), Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of New York, lived in Hyde Hall, Hyde. The Hall was probably rebuilt by George Clarke after successfully concluding a court case disputing the ownership of the estate with the Bretland Family in 1754. Captain Hyde John Clarke married Ann Joyce (d. 1843) on 19 April 1808 and fathered John (1819-1902), Henry, Elizabeth (d. 1841), Emma, and Sophia (?). He pursued a career in the Royal Navy, entering as Captain's Servant on board the Bedford at Portsmouth on 29 June 1791 and serving in the North Sea and East Indies. On 13 June and 9 July 1806 Captain Clarke assisted in the capture of privateers La Henriette and La Ballonne respectively. He was promoted to Commander of the H.M. Sloop 'Curicux' in October 1810 and appointed to the rank of Retired Captain in H.M. Fleet on 10 September 1840.. In 1824 he was appointed one of H.M Justices of the Peace for the counties of Chester and Lancashire and subsequently for Derbyshire. Captain Clarke obtained a grant of land and funds towards the erection of St. George's church, Hyde and laid the cornerstone on 28 May 1831. In his latter years he resided at Llangollen and at Oswestry where he died suddenly in November 1857.

Henry Clarke began service in the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. Edinburgh in 1837 and was transferred to H.M.S. Crocodile in 1839 and to H.M.S. Hazard as Lieutenant in 1843.

Sophia Clarke married Thomas Peacock who opened a silk factory in 1840.

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