John Clerke was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  in 1640.

Clerke was the son of Henry Clerke

Henry Clerke (MP)

Henry Clerke was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1626.Clerke was recorder of Rochester. He was elected Member of Parliament for Rochester in 1621 until 1622 under the reign of King James I. He was re-elected MP for Rochester in 1625 for both...

 of Rochester, Kent and his wife Grace Morgan, daughter of George Morgan of Crow Lane House Rochester. His father was a lawyer and MP for Rochester. He matriculated at University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

 aged 16 on 16 September 1634.

In April 1640, Clerke was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Rochester

Rochester (UK Parliament constituency)

Rochester was a parliamentary constituency in Kent. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

.

Clerke's brother Francis

Francis Clerke (c 1624- 1686)

Sir Francis Clerke was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1661 and 1685.Clerke was the son of Henry Clerke of Rochester, who was a lawyer and MP for Rochester. Clerke inherited his father's property which included Restoration House at Rochester...

was also MP for Rochester.