Field Marshal Sir Alured Clarke (24 November 1744 – 16 September 1832) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He took charge of all British troops in Georgia in May 1780 and was then deployed to Philadelphia to supervise the evacuation of British prisoners of war at the closing stages of the American Revolutionary War. He went on to be Governor of Jamaica and then lieutenant-governor of Lower Canada in which role he had responsibility for implementing the Constitutional Act 1791. He was then sent to India where he became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, then briefly Governor-General of India and finally Commander-in-Chief of India during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
Military career
thumb|right|230px|The National Assembly of Quebec, formerly the Parliament of Lower Canada, first convened by Sir Alured Clarke in December 1792 (the painting in the background depicts one of the first sittings of the Parliament of Lower Canada in January 1793)
Born the son of Charles Clarke (c.1702–1750) and Jane Clarke (née Mullins), Alured Clarke was educated at Eton College and was commissioned as an ensign in the 50th Regiment of Foot on 20 March 1759. Later that year he served in Germany under the Marquess of Granby. Clarke took charge of all British troops in Georgia in May 1780 and, having been promoted to colonel on 16 May 1782, he was then deployed to Philadelphia to supervise the evacuation of British prisoners of war in May 1783. he acquitted himself well enough as Governor of Jamaica that he was recommended to George III as a suitable person to become lieutenant-governor of Lower Canada in October 1790. In the absence of the governor, who had departed for England in August 1791, he took command of British forces and set about implementing the Constitutional Act 1791 which involved settling geographical boundaries (between Lower Canada and the United States and between Lower Canada and the rest of Canada), offering land to settlers and convening the first legislature of the Province. On arrival in India in early 1796 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army. He was promoted to the local rank of lieutenant-general on 3 May 1796 and, having been appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath on 14 January 1797, he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-general on 4 February 1797.
He became acting Governor-General of India in March 1798 (in which capacity he also served as acting Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army) and then became Commander-in-Chief, India in May 1798. Following a re-organisation of the order, he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 4 January 1815.
In 1803 he appeared, alongside Horatio Nelson and Sir Evan Nepean, as a character witness in the treason trial of Colonel Edward Despard. Together they testified to Despard's service in the Caribbean. Clarke also served as honorary colonel of 1st Battalion 60th Royal American Regiment, of the 68th Regiment of Foot, of the 5th Regiment of Foot and then of the 7th Regiment of Foot. In retirement, Clarke lived at Mansfield Street in London. He was promoted to field marshal on 22 July 1830 in the runup to the coronation of William IV, which happened on 9 September 1831. He died at Llangollen in Wales on 16 September 1832 while visiting his niece.
Family
Clarke married Elizabeth Catherine Hunter in 1770,