Portrait of Mr. Edward Clarke Q.C, M.P

A portrait of Mr. Edward Clarke (1841-1931), Q.C, M.P, after a photograph by J. Hawke, Plymouth.

A black and white print of a bust-length portrait of a white middle-aged male looking out to the left. He is in a smart light jacket with a dark tie and tie pin at the collar of his white shirt. He has neat brushed back short hair and long facial whiskers. The portrait is enclosed in a rectangular frame with a thin black line, and text above reads ‘No. 13. Mr. Edward Clarke, Q.C. M.P.’ while text at the bottom right corner reads ‘From a Photo by J. Hawke, Plymouth.’ The portrait has been cut out from an unknown newspaper and mounted on parchment.

Sir Edward Clarke (1841-1931) was born in London and studied at King’s College. He was called to the bar in 1864, and became a top barrister involved in a number of high profile cases, including The Trial of The Detectives and The Penge Murder in 1877. In 1895, he represented Oscar Wilde in a criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, precipitating the writer’s ‘downfall’; evidence throughout the trial led to Wilde’s eventual persecution and arrest for homosexual practices (which was illegal at the time.) Clarke continued to defend Wilde free of charge, as he considered himself duty-bound following the damaging results of the first trial. A film dramatization, The Trials of Oscar Wilde, was made in 1960, starring Nigel Patrick as Sir Edward Clarke. A portion of Clarke’s closing speech reads:

“You must not act upon suspicion or prejudice, but upon an examination of the facts, gentlemen, and on the facts, I respectfully urge that Mr. Wilde is entitled to claim from you a verdict of acquittal. If on an examination of the evidence you, therefore, feel it your duty to say that the charges against the prisoner have not been proved, then I am sure that you will be glad that the brilliant promise which has been clouded by these accusations, and the bright reputation which was so nearly quenched in the torrent of prejudice which a few weeks ago was sweeping through the press, have been saved by your verdict from absolute ruin; and that it leaves him, a distinguished man of letters and a brilliant Irishman, to live among us a life of honour and repute, and to give in the maturity of his genius gifts to our literature, of which he has given only the, promise in his early youth.”

During this time, Clarke was made a member of the Queen’s Council in 1880, along with MP for Southwark (later Plymouth) before resigning in 1900 after disagreements with the Conservative Party which he represented. Knighted in 1886, he was also a member of the Anti-Women’s Suffrage movement in early 1900s.

John Hawke ran a prolific photographic portrait studio between 1866-1893 at 8 George Street in Plymouth, Devon.

Related Collections

Portraits