Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet

The Right Honourable

Sir George Clerk

FRSE FRS Bt DL
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	19 November 1787
Died	23 December 1867 (aged 80); Penicuik House, Midlothian
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Tory

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 the University of Oxford, 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 MP, 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[]

^ https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
^ "No. 20440". The London Gazette. 7 February 1845. p. 353.
^ https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 17 March 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}

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

External links[]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir George Clerk, Bt

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

[1] ttps://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf

[2] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)

[3] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)

[4] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)

[5] "No. 20440". The London Gazette. 7 February 1845. p. 353.

[6] ttps://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf

[7] "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 17 March 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}

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show v t Masters of the Royal Mint (1331–1879)
House of Plantagenet (1216–1399)	Richard de Snowshill/Richard of Grimsby (1331) Henry de Bruselee and John Chichester (1351–?) Walter dei Bardi (1361–1361) John Chichester (1365–1367) Walter dei Bardi (1375–1391) John Wildeman (1391–1391)
Houses of Lancaster and York (1399–1485)	Richard Garner (1411–1414) Sir Lewis John (1413–1414) Sir Lewis John (1418–1420) Bartholomew Goldbeter (1421–1432) John Paddesley (1435–1446) Robert Manfield (1446–1459) Sir Richard Tonstall (1459–1461) William Hastings (1461–April 1483) Sir Robert Brackenbury (April–June 1483) Sir Robert Brackenbury (June 1483–1485)
House of Tudor (1485–1603)	Sir Giles Daubeney (1485–1490) Sir Bartholomew Reed and Robert Fenrother (1492–1498) 4th Baron Mountjoy (1509–1534) Ralph Rowlet/Sir Martin Bowes (1543) Sir Martin Bowes (1544) Sir John York (1547–1553) Thomas Egerton (1553–1555) Sir Thomas Stanley (1560–1571) John Lonyson (1571–1582) Sir Richard Martin (1582–1603)
House of Stuart (1603–1649)	Sir Richard Martin (1603–1609) Sir Edward Villiers (1617–1623) Sir (1623–1626) Sir Robert Harley (1626–1635) Sir Ralph Freeman/Sir Thomas Aylesbury (1635–1643) Sir Robert Harley (1643–1649)
Interregnum (1649–1660)	(1649–1653)
House of Stuart (1660–1714)	Sir Ralph Freeman (1660–1662) Sir Ralph Freeman/Henry Slingsby (1662–1667) Henry Slingsby (1667–1680) Sir John Buckworth/Charles Duncombe/ (1680–1684) Thomas Neale/Charles Duncombe/ (1684–1686) Thomas Neale (1686–1699) Sir Isaac Newton (1700–1714)
House of Hanover (1714–1901)	Sir Isaac Newton (1714–1727) John Conduitt (1727–1737) Hon. Richard Arundell (1737–1745) 3rd Viscount Chetwynd (1745–1769) 1st Earl Cadogan (1769–1784) 3rd Earl of Effingham (1784–1789) 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1789–1790) 2nd Marquess Townshend (1790–1794) Sir George Yonge (1794–1799) 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1799–1801) 2nd Baron Arden (1801–1802) John Smyth (1802–1804) 3rd Earl Bathurst (1804–1806) Lord Charles Spencer (1806) Charles Bathurst (1806–1807) 3rd Earl Bathurst (1807–1812) 2nd Earl of Clancarty (1812–1814) 3rd Earl of Mornington (1814–1823) 1st Baron Wallace (1823–1827) George Tierney (1827–1828) John Charles Herries (1828–1830) 1st Earl of Auckland (1830–1834) 1st Baron Dunfermline (1834–1835) 1st Baron Ashburton (1835) 1st Baron Taunton (1835–1841) William Ewart Gladstone (1841–1845) Sir George Clerk (1845–1846) Richard Lalor Sheil (1846–1850) Sir John Herschel (1850–1855) Thomas Graham (1855–1869) Vacant (1869–1879)
Office abolished in 1879 with duties given to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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	19 November 1787 (1787-11-19)
Died	23 December 1867 (1867-12-24) (aged 80) Penicuik House, Midlothian
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Tory