[1] He was the son of Alured Clarke, of Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire, who died on 28 October 1744, aged 86, by his second wife, Ann, fourth daughter of the Rev.

[2] Clarke's education began at St Paul's School, London and from 1712 to 1719 he held one of its exhibitions.

On 1 April 1713 he was admitted a pensioner at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, taking the degrees of B.A.

[2] Winchester County Hospital, the first in England outside London, was established in Hampshire in 1736, largely by Clarke's efforts, and its constitution and rules were written by him.

[2] Clarke's main literary work was An Essay towards the Character of her late Majesty, Caroline (1738, and in German at Altona in the same year), considered rose-tinted.