Frank Clarke (Australian politician)

Sir Francis Grenville Clarke KBE (14 March 1879 – 13 February 1955) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Sunbury to grazier William John Clarke (later Sir William Clarke, 1st Baronet) and Janet Marion Snodgrass. His grandfather William John Turner Clarke had been an early member of the Victorian Parliament, while his father had also served in the parliament. His brothers Sir Rupert Clarke and Russell Clarke and nephew Michael Clarke were also MPs. Frank Clarke attended Scotch College, the University of Melbourne, and Oxford University, becoming a grazier with widespread properties. On 24 July 1901 he married Nina Ellis Cotton, with whom he had six children. In 1913 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as a non-Labor member for Northern Province. He was Minister of Lands from 1917 to 1919, Minister of Water Supply from 1917 to 1921, and Minister of Public Works from 1919 to 1923. In 1923 he left the ministry and was elected President of the Victorian Legislative Council, a position he held for the next twenty years. During this time he changed provinces twice, to Melbourne South in 1925 and Monash in 1937. During his time in parliament he was a member of the Nationalist, United Australia, Liberal and Liberal and Country parties. He was knighted in 1926. Clarke died at South Yarra in 1955.[1]

References

1. Parliament of Victoria (2001). "Clarke, Sir Francis Grenville (Frank)". re-member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 13 December 2015.

Victorian Legislative Council
Preceded by Sir Walter Manifold	President of the Victorian Legislative Council 1923–1943	Succeeded by Clifden Eager
Preceded by Richard Abbott	Member for Northern 1913–1925 Served alongside: William Baillieu; Richard Abbott	Succeeded by George Tuckett
Preceded by Sir Arthur Robinson	Member for Melbourne South 1925–1937 Served alongside: Thomas Payne; Norman Falkiner; Harold Cohen; Archibald Crofts	Abolished
New seat	Member for Monash 1937–1955 Served alongside: Archibald Crofts; Frank Beaurepaire; Thomas Brennan	Succeeded by Charles Gawith