Obituaries Australia

William Clarke, n.d.

from Pastoral Review, 16 February 1927

News of the death on Tuesday evening of Mr William John Turner Clarke will be received with widespread regret. Mr Clarke, who was in his 65th year died at his residence, St George’s Road, Toorak, after an illness extending over nine months. He had given his relatives and friends hope of a successful recovery on several occasions and his death was unexpected. Mr. Clarke was the only surviving son of the late Mr Joseph Clarke of Norton Mandeville, Tasmania, from whom he inherited Mandeville Hall, Toorak, and Mount Schanck Estate near Mount Gambier (SA.) The late Mr William Clarke was born at Timsbury, near Hobart, and received his early education at Wesley College and the Hawthorn Grammar School. From there he went to Christ Church College, Oxford, and later read for the bar with Mr Madden (later Sir John Madden). He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, London, in 1890 and within a year or two returned to Australia. He assumed the management of his South Australian estate, and earned for himself a wide reputation as a wool grower. In recent years the estate was partly subdivided, and Mr Clarke visited it for a few mouths only each year. He took a considerable interest in public affairs at Mount Gambier and was an active church worker in that district where he built and maintained a church. Among his many charitable gifts were donations to the Women’s Hospital (of whose board he was for many years a member performing valuable work) the Institute for the Blind and the Red Cross Society. When living in Melbourne he was a vestry-man of St John’s Church, Toorak, and was a member of the Anglican Synod. In Melbourne banking circles he was widely known. The late Mr Clarke’s fine, broad-minded and genial nature endeared him to a large number of people, who admired him for his intellectual qualities and broad outlook upon life. At the time of his death he was vice-chairman of directors of the Bank of Victoria. He was also a director of the Perpetual Executors and Trustees Association of Australia. When in England he married Gertrude, the third daughter of Mr Alfred John Mansfield. His wife survives him, and he leaves one son, Mr Trevor Clarke, and four daughters, three of whom are married. The late Mr Clarke was said to bear a strong resemblance to his grandfather, the late Mr William John Turner Clarke, who was the father of the late Sir William John Clarke, Bart, and the late Mr Joseph Clarke. The president of the Victorian Legislative Council (Sir Frank Clarke) is a cousin of the late Mr Clarke. 

The funeral will take place on Monday at Gretna, near Norton Mandeville (Tas) and the body will be buried in the family burial ground.