Born in 1836 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Clark was educated at Marischal College and the University of Edinburgh.

A prominent social activist, he became a bank director and authored a number of articles on travel.

Clarke was appointed the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario in 1903.

[1] He died in 1915 in his summer home in Prouts Neck, Maine.

His remains were brought back to Toronto, where he was interred in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery.