George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe
Governor of Bombay | |
---|---|
In office 18 October 1907 – 5 April 1913 | |
Monarchs | Edward VII (1907–10) George V (1910–13) |
Preceded by | Lord Lamington |
Succeeded by | Lord Willingdon |
10th Governor of Victoria | |
In office 28 September 1901 – 24 November 1903 | |
Premier | Sir Alexander Peacock (1901–02) William Irvine (1902–03) |
Preceded by | The Lord Brassey |
Succeeded by | Sir Reginald Talbot |
Personal details | |
Born | Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George | 4 July 1848
Sir George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe,
Biography
Background and education
Clarke was born in Swinderby, Lincolnshire, son of the local vicar, and educated at Haileybury, Wimbledon and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1]
Military career
Clarke entered the Royal Engineers in 1868, served in the Egyptian Expedition and as Assistant Political officer during the following Sudan expedition.[2]
From 1885 until 1892 Clarke was secretary to the Colonial Defence Committee, for which he was knighted as a
Fiction
In 1891 his book The Last Great Naval War. An historical retrospect. By A. Nelson Seaforth. Sixth thousand was published. The book was a fictional account of a war between Britain and France, set in 1930.[3]
Views on fortification
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2022) |
In 1892 Clarke published Fortification: Its Past Achievement, Recent Development and Future Progress. The book was influential in shaping the British view of military fortification.[4] Clarke adhered to the 'Blue Water' school of thought which saw the Royal Navy as Britain's primary defence against invasion. Large scale permanent fortifications built in peacetime (such as the Palmerston Forts) were seen as a waste of money. Instead Clarke advocated the use of small field fortifications which could be built cheaply and rapidly, such as those based on the Twydall Profile.
His view was based in part on the successful
Returning from the Mediterranean, Clarke was appointed to a group of officers tasked with the planning of British coast defences overseas. Sydenham-Clarke's opinions on the strength of field fortifications were largely vindicated by the trench warfare of the First World War (1914–1918).
Colonial administrator
Clarke retired from the army in October 1901,
Critic of Churchill
Sydenham (4 October 1916) and Admiral Reginald Custance (9 October 1916) complained in letters to The Times that Winston Churchill’s recent statements (Churchill was out of office at the time) that the German High Seas Fleet was effectively blockaded and that surplus forces should be used in offensive operations (similar to the views of naval theorist Julian Corbett) ignored the importance of seeking a decisive victory over the German Fleet. Admiral Doveton Sturdee also complained in a private memorandum (24 Nov 1916) that Churchill’s policy was “the exact reverse of what he advocated when in office and expressed in public speeches”. Historian Christopher Bell thinks this not quite fair – Churchill had advocated risking old, near-obsolete ships in the attack on the Dardanelles but had never suggested weakening Britain’s superiority over Germany in the North Sea. In articles (The London Magazine December 1916 and January 1917) and in a Commons speech (21 February 1917) Churchill continued to argue that seeking a major naval victory over Germany was unrealistic but that Germany was effectively blockaded even if such a blockade now took place from bases further away from the enemy than in Napoleonic times.[10]
Lord Sydenham was one of several military writers who criticized some of the opinions and statistics in Volume III of Churchill's The World Crisis. The essays "quarreling with some of his statistics and minor points of strategy and tactics" were published in magazines and then reprinted in a book in 1927. The book introduction said that the criticisms "go far to destroy any claims Volume III of The World Crisis may have to historical value".[11]
Fascism and antisemitism
Originally a Liberal, Clarke became increasingly radical in his later life; by the 1930s he was a prominent supporter of
Clarke wrote antisemitic, racist and pro-fascist pieces, including a pamphlet of
Personal life
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2022) |
On 1 June 1871, he married Caroline Emily, eldest daughter of General Peregrine Henry Fellowes, RM. She died on 9 December 1908. Their only child, Constance Violet Clarke, was born 26 May 1879 and died 21 March 1909. He married, secondly, in 1910, to Phyllis Angelina Reynolds, daughter of George Morant of Shirley House, Carrickmacross.
Lord Sydenham of Combe died at his home in Onslow Square, London, in February 1933, aged 84, when the barony became extinct. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.[16]
References
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Sydenham, George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 648.
- ^ a b "New Governor of Victoria". The Times. No. 36529. London. 9 August 1901. p. 5.
- ^ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:50_of_%27The_Last_Great_Naval_War._An_historical_retrospect._By_A._Nelson_Seaforth._Sixth_thousand%27_(11210309076).jpg The Last Great Naval War
- ^ Hamilton-Baillie, J.R.E., Fort 2003 (Fortress Study Group), (31), pp. 6–40
- ^ "No. 27367". The London Gazette. 22 October 1901. p. 6851.
- ^ "No. 27360". The London Gazette. 1 October 1901. p. 6395.
- ^ "Latest intelligence – The Governor of Victoria". The Times. No. 36636. London. 12 December 1901. p. 5.
- ^ "No. 28721". The London Gazette. 23 May 1913. p. 3668.
- ^ James Lees-Milne The Enigmatic Edwardian: The Life of Reginald, 2nd Viscount Esher, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1986, p. 146.
- ^ Bell 2012, pp.77-8
- ^ The World Crisis by Winston Churchill: A Criticism (1927; Hutchinson & Co, London)
- ISBN 978-0-7190-5024-4. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-55277-904-0.
- ^ Toczek, Nick (2016). Haters, Baiters and Would-be Dictators: Anti-Semitism and the UK Far Right (Abingdon: Routledge).
- ISBN 978-1-134-72793-3.
- ^ The Complete Peerage, Volume XIII – Peerage Creations 1901–1938. St Catherine's Press. 1949. p. 174.
Book
- Bell, Christopher (2012). Churchill and Sea Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19969-357-3.
External links
- Works by or about George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe at Wikisource
- . .
- Sir George Sydenham Clarke at the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- A. Nelson Seaforth at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- "Archival material relating to George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe". UK National Archives.