Sir Ralph Clarke KBE TD DL |
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Member of Parliament for East Grinstead | |
In office 1936–1955 |
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Preceded by | Henry Cautley |
Succeeded by | Evelyn Emmet |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ralph Stephenson Clarke 17 August 1892 |
Died | 9 May 1970 | (aged 77)
Citizenship | United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Rebekah Mary Buxton (m. 1921) |
Children | Three |
Residence | Borde Hill |
Colonel Sir Ralph Stephenson Clarke, KBE, TD, DL (17 August 1892 – 9 May 1970) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Grinstead from 1936 to 1955.
He was elected to the House of Commons at a by-election in July 1936, after East Grinstead's Conservative MP Henry Cautley was ennobled as Baron Cautley. Clarke held the seat until he stood down at the 1955 general election.
He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of West Sussex in 1932, and in the 1955 New Year Honours, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), "for political and public services".
Clarke was the son of Colonel Stephenson Clarke. He married Rebekah Mary Buxton, daughter of Gerald Buxton and Lucy Ethel Pease, on 15 December 1921, and they had three children. His wife was from the Pease family of Darlington; Lucy's father was Joseph Whitwell Pease and her maternal grandfather was Alfred Fox, who created Glendurgan Garden.