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.

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.

While in Southern Rhodesia, he was appointed to protect the interests of native people against the overarching ambitions of the British South Africa Company.

[18] While he suppressed the more "noxious" customs of the native people, he did not allow Europeans to own land and mineral prospectors were forbidden:[19] the only whites permitted to reside were officials, missionaries and certain traders.

[7] John A. Hobson, in Imperialism, A Study (1902), summed up Clarke's work in Basutoland saying that, along with other administrators like Sir George Grey and Lord Ripon, he "...brought sympathy and knowledge to the establishment of careful experiments in self-government.

He gave himself up in November 1888, and he and his uncles Ndabuko and Tshingana were found guilty of high treason in April 1889 and exiled to St Helena.

[32] Clarke's 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.

"[34] 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.

[36] 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.

[38] 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.

[38] 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.

[39] 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.

[42] The Aborigines Protection Society in London approved of his appointment, stating in its annual report of 1900 that he had a "rare capacity for dealing justly with native communities".

In response to questioning by the African Association and the Manchester Society for the Protection of Native Races, Chamberlain in 1898 responded that forced labour was not permitted.

[44] Towards the end of 1899, the Second Boer War gave Clarke cause for concern and he requested aid from Britain for the defence of Rhodesia.

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.

In 1903, Rhodesian capitalists even proposed a £4 tax but Chamberlain preferred the lower rate of £2 and sought Clarke's opinion on its potential to cause trouble.

Milner disagreed and wrote to Sir William Milton, the company administrator, saying: 'I am embarrassed by a report form the Resident Commissioner in which he utterly condemns the proposed Native Tax Ordinance'.

[49] In 1904, finally, Alfred Lyttelton, Chamberlain's successor refused assent, citing Clarke's reports and an ordinance limited the tax to £1.

[50] In the meantime, in 1902, Scott, a native commissioner, brought to Clarke's attention that many work-seekers were suffering great privation yet were unable to find work while some businesses were short of labour.

Clarke took up the cause: 'This indicates the necessity of the organisation of an Association for bringing those wanting labour and those seeking employment into contact and prevent, what I have myself seen, gangs of destitute natives wandering about the country.'

Clarke, however, dismissed the demands, arguing that 'the introduction of large numbers of Asiatics... will subject the aboriginal natives to unfair competition'.

He appears to have had respect for Clarke, although he seems to have resented his influence at the Colonial Office, denying him an increase in salary or an official secretary.

[1] H. Rider Haggard was a friend of Clarke's and he dedicated Swallow, his story of the Boer Great Trek of 1836, to him: "...I hope that you will accept these pages in memory of past time and friendship, and more especially for the providential events connected with a night-long ride which once we took on duty together..."[63] Clarke died suddenly on 1 April 1909 of pneumonia at The Lodge, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland.