Somers Clarke
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George Clarke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 22 July 1841 Brighton, England |
| Died | 31 August 1926 (aged 85) |
| Occupation | Architect |
George Somers Clarke (22 July 1841 – 31 August 1926)[1] was an architect and English Egyptologist who worked on the restoration and design of churches and at a number of sites throughout Egypt, notably in El Kab, where he built a mud brick house. He was the son of solicitor Somers C. and Sarah Blaker in Brighton, where he was born and privately educated.[2] Clarke began as an apprentice to the law for five years before beginning work with Sir G. Gilbert Scott.[3] He was one of the pupils of Sir Charles Barry, who was also a British architect.[4]
As an architect he mainly worked on restoring churches. He entered the offices of Sir Gilbert Scott and later worked in partnership with John Micklethwaite from offices at 15 Dean's Yard, Westminster, London. In this partnership they accomplished numerous church restorations and repairs, for St. Martin's in Brighton, St. John the Divine Church in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and many others.[5]He joined the Society of Antiquaries of London 1881. Later became a fellow member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1892.[3] In Hierakonpolis, with Green and Quibel, he helped with excavations along with exploring El Kab in 1893 with J.J. Tylor.[6] He was Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral from 1897 to 1906. He was the architect in charge of St. Paul's Cathedral, and during his time working on the conservation of the cathedral, he would write to The New York Times about the poor conditions the cathedral was in.[7] As Surveyor of St Paul's Cathedral, he designed the new lighting, funded by a gift from Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, and the stalls for the chapel of the Order of St. Micheal and St. George.[8] Working alongside Sir W. B. Richmond, he organized internal decorations for the chapel and relocated, from a small side-chapel, Alfred Stevens' Monument to the Duke of Wellington.[9] After he was done with his work at St. Paul's Cathedral, he was succeeded by Mervyn Macartney as the Surveyor of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1907.[10]
After he retired in 1922, Clarke continued to live in Egypt. His interpreter, Daud Hasan of Argin, and Nubian servant lived with him in his retirement home.[11] While in Egypt, he became an honorary member of Comite de Conservation des Monuments de l' Art Arabe and assisted in repairing several ancient temples. He was also an original member of The Royal Musical Association[12]. He died in Mahamid in August 1926.[13][1]
After completing his training with architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, Somers Clarke started his independent practice in the late 1860s, initially focusing on projects in Brighton and the surrounding areas.[14] His early independent work focused on church design and restoration, heavily influenced by the Gothic Revival Style he learned from Sir George Gilbert Scott.[15] His first major independent project was St. Martin's Church on Lewes Road in Brighton, built between 1874 and 1875 as a memorial to the Reverend H.M. Wagner. [16]While the building featured a restrained brick exterior, Somers Clarke spent the next three decades designing its elaborate interior fittings, including the ornate font canopy.[16]
Donations of his work
In his will he left the British Museum's Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities some of his maps, books, and pamphlets.[17] The Egyptian department of the British Museum were also gifted some of his work regarding the churches of Egypt in the form of drawings, papers, and maps. The Egyptian Exploration Fund were also gifted some his articles about Coptic lamps and clothing.[18] He received small collections of broken pottery from the excavations of the Fostat area in Egypt and then sent them to South Kensington, UK, and other rural museums.[19] Today, many of his architecture drawings of some of his projects can be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK.[20]
Works, books and writings
| Year | Work | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1861 | Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum | Designed by him, and it was previously a hospital chapel.[21] |
| 1866 | Sackville School | Designed by him, and was previously a country house.[22] |
| 1866 | 7 Lothbury Bank | Designed by him in a Venetian Gothic Style for General credit.[23] |
| 1872–78 | Wyfold Court, Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire[24] | |
| 1874-75 | St Martin's parish church, Lewes Road, Brighton (Wagner Memorial Church) | The largest church in Brighton, complete except proposed saddle-back tower. Spectacular pulpit based on the Sacrament House in St. Lorenz, Nuremberg. [25][26] |
| 1875 | St Peter's Church, Brighton | Scheme for remodeling and extending (only partly achieved).[27] |
| 1879 | St Nicholas parish church in Kiddington, Oxfordshire | Vestry and organ loft[28]; also designed several features in the church such as wood panels with tracery, choir stall detailing heads of poppy flowers, and paintings on the east and west walls.[29] In his memory, the second beam in the east area is inscribed with his name.[29] |
| 1885 | Parish church of St John The Divine, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire[30] | |
| 1885 | Church at Wimbledon | (proposed)[31] |
| 1889 | St Mary's Church, Potton, Bedfordshire[32] | |
| 1890 | St Peter's parish church, Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire | Restoration with Micklethwaite.[33] |
| 1891 | Reid's Palace Hotel, Funchal, Madeira[34] | |
| 1891-1893 | Church of All Saints, Merton district | Worked on it with John Thomas Micklethwaite.[35] |
| 1893-1896 | Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri | Assisted Edouard Naville with excavating, conserving, and recording.[36] |
| 1892 | St Saviour's parish church, Folkestone, Kent[37] | |
| 1892 | St Nicholas' Church, Brighton | Designs for wall paintings by C.E. Kempe.[38] |
| 1893 | The Frank James Memorial Hospital, East Cowes, Isle of Wight | |
| 1897-1898 | Excavation of Hierakonpolis | Assisted James Edward Quibell; the University of Oxford houses their work documents[39]. His contributions included making a plan and section of the temple.[40] |
| 1898 | Temple of Amenhotep III | Plans and elevations.[41] |
| 1900 | Tomb of Renni | Plans and elevations.[42] |
| 1900-1906 | St Peter's parish church, Brighton | New chancel with eleven-light east window (with Micklewaite).[43] |
| 1907 | The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari | By Edouard Naville, Harry Reginald Holland, Edward Russell Ayrton, Charles Trick Currelly, and Somers Clarke: contributed architectural descriptions[44] |
| 1910 | Chichester Cathedral | Reredos[45] |
| SS Philip & James parish church, Oxford | Reredos[46] | |
| 1965 | Mountains, Hildenborough, Kent |
| Year | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Oedipus | by Sophocles: added critical and explanatory[47] | |
| 1912 | Christian Antiquities of the Nile | includes a monograph of the Red Monastery Church (Dayr Anbā Bišūy) and the White Monastery (Dayr Anbā Šinūda)[48] |
| 1916 | Ancient Egyptian Frontier Fortresses[49] | |
| 1920 | Ancient Egypt | By Flinders Petrie; contributed two pieces: Nile Boats and Other Matters, and Georges Legrain.[50] |
| 1920 | The Unrest in Egypt | Wrote his ideas about why the lower-class citizens of Egypt are upset.[51] |
| 1922 | The Organs of St. Paul's Cathedral | The Apollonicon, The Positive, and letters to the editor; included in The Organ Quarterly Review.[52] |
| 1930 | Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture | With Reginold Engelbach[53] |
| 1930 | Ancient Egyptian Masonry: The Building of Craft | With Reginold Engelbak.[54] |
