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The Right Honourable
Sir George Clerk
FRSE FRS Bt DL
Vice-President of the Board of Trade

In office
5 February 1845 – 29 June 1846
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, Bt
Preceded by The Earl of Dalhousie
Succeeded by Thomas Milner Gibson
Personal details
Born (1787-11-19)November 19, 1787
Died 23 December 1867 (1867-12-24) (aged 80)
Penicuik House, Midlothian
Citizenship United Kingdom
Nationality Scottish
Political party Tory
Sir George Clerk's grave, St

Sir George Clerk's grave, St. Mungo's churchyard, Penicuik

Sir George Clerk of Pennycuik, 6th Baronet FRSE FRS PC DL (19 November 1787 – 23 December 1867) was a Scottish politician who served as the Tory MP for Edinburghshire, Stamford and Dover.

Background[]

Clerk was the son of Cpt James Clerk (d.1793), third son of Sir George Clerk-Maxwell, 4th Baronet and Janet Irving. He was born near Edinburgh. He studied at the High School in Edinburgh and then went to Oxford University, graduating DCL in 1810.[1]

Political career[]

Clerk sat as Member of Parliament for Edinburghshire from 1811 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1837,[2] for Stamford from 1838 to 1847[3] and then for Dover from 1847 to 1852.[4] He served as one of the Commissioners of Weights and Measures from 1818 to 1821. He held political office as a Lord of the Admiralty from 1819 to 1830 (from 1827 to 1828 he was a member of the Council of the Lord High Admiral (The Duke of Clarence), as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 5 August to 22 November 1830, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from November 1834 to April 1835, as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from September 1841 to February 1845. In 1845 he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade[5] and Master of the Mint, posts he held until the fall of the Tory administration in 1846. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant for Edinburghshire.

Other positions of note[]

  • President of the Zoological Society 1862-1867
  • Chairman of the Royal Academy of Music

Later life[]

In 1812 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposers being Thomas Charles Hope, Sir George Stewart MacKenzie and John Playfair.[6] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1819.[7]

Family[]

Clerk married Maria Anne Law (1788-1866), the daughter of Ewan Law, brother of Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, in 1810. He died in December 1867, aged 80, at Penycuik House, Midlothian. He is buried in the local churchyard, close to his parents' mausoleum in St. Mungo's Churchyard in Penicuik. His wife lies with him.

His brother John Clerk-Maxwell of Middlebie, advocate, was father of the mathematical physicist James Clerk-Maxwell.

His sister Isabella married the sometime Solicitor General for Scotland, James Wedderburn (1782-1822) of the Wedderburn baronets.

References[]

  • Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation, Edinburgh, 1867, vol.iii, p. 652.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Saunders-Dundas
Member of Parliament for Edinburghshire
1811–1832
Succeeded by
Sir John Dalrymple, Bt
Preceded by
Sir John Dalrymple, Bt
Member of Parliament for Edinburghshire
1835–1837
Succeeded by
William Gibson Craig
Preceded by
Thomas Chaplin
Marquess of Granby
Member of Parliament for Stamford
1838–1847
With: Marquess of Granby
Succeeded by
Marquess of Granby
J. C. Herries
Preceded by
Sir John Reid, Bt
Edward Royd Rice
Member of Parliament for Dover
1847–1852
With: Edward Royd Rice
Succeeded by
Edward Royd Rice
Viscount Chelsea
Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Henry Hardinge
Clerk of the Ordnance
1827–1828
Succeeded by
Spencer Perceval
Preceded by
William Yates Peel
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
1830
Succeeded by
Hon. George Lamb
Preceded by
Charles Wood
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
1834–1835
Succeeded by
Edward Stanley
Preceded by
Richard More O'Ferrall
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
1841–1845
Succeeded by
Edward Cardwell
Preceded by
The Earl of Dalhousie
Vice-President of the Board of Trade
1845–1846
Succeeded by
Thomas Milner Gibson
Preceded by
William Ewart Gladstone
Master of the Mint
1845–1846
Succeeded by
Richard Lalor Sheil
Party political offices
Preceded by
William Holmes
(to 1832)
Conservative Chief Whip in the House of Commons
1835–1837
Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by
John Clerk
Baronet
(of Penicuik)
1798–1867
Succeeded by
James Clerk
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