ia, was born at Southsea, England, on the 27th of July 1824, and
educated at King's school, Canterbury. He entered the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, and obtained his commission in the army in 1844 as
second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. He was appointed to his
father's staff in West Australia, but was transferred to be A.D.C. and
military secretary to the governor of Tasmania; and in 1847 he went to
New Zealand to take part in the Maori War, and for some years served on
Sir George Grey's staff. He was then made surveyor-general in Victoria,
took a prominent part in framing its new constitution, and held the
office of minister of public lands during the first administration
(1855-1857). He returned to England in 1857, and in 1863 was sent on a
special mission to the West Coast of Africa. In 1864 he was appointed
director of works for the navy, and held this post for nine years, being
responsible for great improvements in the naval arsenals at Chatham,
Portsmouth and Plymouth, and for fortifications at Malta, Cork, Bermuda
and elsewhere. In 1873 he was made K.C.M.G., and became governor of the
Straits Settlements, where he did most valuable work in consolidating
British rule and ameliorating the condition of the people. From 1875 to
1880 he was minister of public works in India; and on his return to
England in 1881, holding then the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the
army, he was first appointed commandant at Chatham and then
inspector-general of fortifications (1882-1886). Having attained the
rank of lieutenant-general and been created G.C.M.G., he retired from
official life, and in 1886 and 1893 unsuccessfully stood for parliament
as a supporter of Mr Gladstone. During his last years he was
agent-general for Victoria. He died on the 29th of March 1902. Both as a
technical and strategical engineer and as an Imperial administrator Sir
Andrew Clarke was one of the ablest and most useful public servants of
his time; and his contributions to periodical literature, as well as his
official memoranda, contained valuable suggestions on the subjects of
imperial defence and imperial consolidation which received too little
consideration at a period when the home governments were not properly
alive to their importance. He is entitled to remembrance as one of those
who first inculcated, from a wide practical experience, the views of
imperial administration and its responsibilities, which in his last
years he saw accepted by the