Henry Clarke (mathematician)

Henry Clarke (1743–1818) was an English mathematician, a significant teacher in north-west England, and mathematical writer and translator. He worked also as a surveyor and science lecturer.
Life.
He was the son of Thomas Clarke, born at Salford and baptised 17 April 1743; William Augustus Clarke the Baptist minister and Protestant Association member was his brother. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and at age of 13 became assistant in Leeds academy of the Quaker Aaron Grimshaw, a Quaker. Here he made the acquaintance of Joseph Priestley.
After a brief partnership with Robert Pulman, a schoolmaster at Sedbergh, he travelled in Europe, and returned to settle as a land surveyor in Manchester. He again became a schoolmaster, and the rest of his career was spent in educational posts. He first had a "commercial and mathematical" school in Salford, giving lectures on astronomy and other scientific subjects. While the school was not a success in financial terms, Clarke trained future mathematicians, such as Hugh Byrom and Thomas Molineux, and contributors to mathematical periodicals, including the "Ladies' Diary". Clarke in 1788 was an unsuccessful candidate for the salaried mastership of a school in Stretford.
A member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, in 1783 Clarke became lecturer in mathematics and experimental philosophy in its "College of Arts and Sciences", which only lasted a few years. In 1792 he moved to Liverpool, and, after returning to Manchester, was at Bristol from 1799 till 1802. He was in that year appointed professor of history, geography, and experimental philosophy at the Royal Military College at Great Marlow, which moved in 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire. In 1802 he was also made LL.D. by the University of Edinburgh.
Clarke retired on a pension in 1817, and died at Islington, 29 April 1818. He had been a candidate for the Royal Society in 1783, but was opposed by the influence of Sir Joseph Banks, then its President. Samuel Horsley, a critic of Banks, singled out this case.
Works.
Clarke's works were:
Clarke was a contributor to mathematical journals, especially to the "Ladies' Diary", edited by Charles Hutton, from 1772 to 1782. He drew some plates for John Whitaker's "History of Manchester".
Family.
On 2 April 1766 Clarke married Martha Randle of Manchester. Of 17 children, two sons and four daughters survived him.