Sir Rupert Clarke, 3rd Baronet
|
Sir Rupert Clarke 3rd Baronet |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Rupert William John Clarke 5 November 1919 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 4 February 2005 (aged 85) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | soldier, businessman and pastoralist |
| Title | Baronet |
| Spouse(s) | Kathleen Grant Hay (m. 1947; d. 1999) Gillian de Zoete (m. 2000) |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Member of the Order of Australia (AM), Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military) (MBE(M)) |
Sir Rupert William John Clarke, 3rd Baronet, AM, MBE (5 November 1919 – 4 February 2005) was an Australian soldier, businessman and pastoralist. He achieved success in a number of fields, including horseracing, the military and as a corporate chairman.
Clarke was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Rupert Clarke, 2nd Baronet (a prominent pastoralist and Member of Parliament) and Elsie Tucker (born in Melbourne). His father purchased the Villa Les Abeilles in Monte Carlo and the young Rupert attended a French-speaking primary school. Upon his father's death on Christmas Day 1926, he succeeded as the 3rd Baronet of Rupertswood when he was only seven years old.
His mother remarried (to the Fifth Marquess of Headfort) and he moved to England. Rupert became an accomplished athlete at Eton and then later at Magdalen College, Oxford. He excelled at shooting, swimming, fencing and rowing, sometimes simultaneously. Scholastically he excelled, particularly in languages. He spent a considerable amount of time travelling through Germany with friends who would soon be on the opposing side during World War II.
By 1941 he had enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned in the Irish Guards, as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Alexander. Clarke was present at various major turning points in the war, including the withdrawal from Burma, the North African Campaign against the German Afrika Korps and the Invasion of Sicily. As ADC to Alexander, he met Chiang Kai-shek and Pope Pius XII.
...
Wikipedia