Life

Clarke was appointed a clerk in the ordnance office at Chatham in 1783. Seven years later he was transferred to Gravesend

Gravesend, Kent

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

, and in 1800 to Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

, where he remained until his retirement from the service in 1807. He died on 30 May 1840 in his eightieth year, and was buried in Old St. Pancras churchyard, London.

Works

His early essays in the Gentleman's Magazine, under the signatures of ‘Indagator’ and ‘Indagator Roffensis,’ obtained for him the friendship of Samuel Denne, the Kentish antiquary. In 1790 Denne communicated to the Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, as an appendix to his own paper on ‘Stone Seats in the Chancels of Churches,’ some observations by Clarke on the same subject. Three years later Clarke returned the compliment by addressing to Denne his ‘Observations on Episcopal Chairs and Stone Seats; as also on Piscinas and other appendages to Altars still remaining in Chancels; with a Description of Chalk Church, in the Diocese of Rochester,’ a paper, with four plates from drawings by the author, printed in Archæologia, xi. 317–74. Clarke was elected F.S.A. on 7 April 1796.

Other papers of his appeared in John Britton

John Britton (antiquary)

-Early life:Britton was born on 7 July 1771 at Kington St. Michael, near Chippenham. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he was left an orphan at an early age. At sixteen he went to London and was apprenticed to a wine merchant. Prevented by ill-health from serving his full term, he found...

's Architectural Antiquities (vols. i. and iv.). He also revised and prefaced a work left by his near relative, William Oram, entitled ‘Precepts and Observations on the Art of Colouring in Landscape Painting,’ London, 1810.

His other works are:

• ‘Observations on the intended Tunnel beneath the river Thames, shewing the many defects in the present state of that projection,’ Gravesend, 1799. The project was that of Ralph Dodd
  Ralph Dodd
  Ralph Dodd was a late 18th century engineer primarily known, by his detractors, for his attempt, and ultimate failure to produce a tunnel underneath the Thames.-Marine painter:...
  
  , for a subway from Gravesend to Tilbury
  Tilbury
  Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...
  
  . Clarke had previously written on the subject in the Gentleman's Magazine.
• ‘Some Account of the Rise and Progress of Early English Architecture, with descriptional Remarks on the Churches of the Metropolis,’ prefixed to ‘Architectura Ecclesiastica Londini,’ a series of views by John Coney
  John Coney (engraver)
  John Coney was an English architectural draughtsman and engraver.-Life:He was born at Ratcliffe Highway, London. He was apprenticed to an architect, but never followed the profession...
  
  , George Sidney Shepherd, and other artists, of the churches of London, published 1819, and reissued with a new title-page the following year.