Somers Clarke

For his uncle, also an architect, see George Somers Leigh Clarke.

George Somers Clarke (1841–1926)^[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 house. He was born in Brighton.

George Somers Clarke
Born	1841 Brighton, England
Died	31 August 1926 Egypt
Occupation	Architect

As an architect he entered the offices of Sir Gilbert Scott and later worked in partnership with John Thomas Micklethwaite from offices at 15 Dean's Yard, Westminster, London. He was Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral from 1897 to 1906.

View of Reid's Hotel in Funchal, Madeira, photographed by Sarah Angelina Acland (c. 1910).

After his retirement Clarke continued to live in Egypt and died in Mahamid in August 1926.^[1]

Works

• 1965 Mountains, Hildenborough, Kent
• 1872–78 Wyfold Court, Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire^[2]
• 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.^[3][4]
• 1875 scheme for remodelling and extending St Peter's Church, Brighton (only partly achieved)^[5]
• 1879 St Nicholas parish church, Kiddington, Oxfordshire: vestry and organ loft^[6]
• 1885 Parish church of St John The Divine, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire^[7]
• 1885 Church at Wimbledon (proposed)^[8]
• 1889 St Mary's Church, Potton, Bedfordshire^[9]
• 1890 St Peter's parish church, Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire: restoration (with Micklethwaite)^[10]
• 1891 Reid's Palace Hotel, Funchal, Madeira^[11]
• 1892 St Saviour's parish church, Folkestone, Kent^[12]
• 1892 designs for wall paintings by C.E. Kempe in St Nicholas' Church, Brighton^[13]
• 1893 The Frank James Memorial Hospital, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
• 1900–06 (with Micklethwaite) St Peter's parish church, Brighton: new chancel with eleven-light east window^[14]
• 1910 Chichester Cathedral: reredos^[15]
• SS Philip & James parish church, Oxford: reredos^[16]

References

1. "Death Of Well Known Architect: Mr Somers Clarke Passes Away In Egypt". Dundee Courier. 1 September 1926. Retrieved 24 September 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 738.
3. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 433.
4. Church Guide Book. St Martin's, Brighton. 1975.
5. Building News. 1 January 1875. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 669.
7. The Builder. 46: 932. 1884. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. The Builder: 792. 5 December 1885. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1321657)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
10. Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 698.
11. Denby, Elaine (1998). Grand Hotels: Reality & Illusion; An Architectural and Social History. Reaktion Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-1861891211.
12. The Builder. 6 October 1892. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
13. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 428.
14. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 436.
15. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 155.
16. Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 298.

Sources

• Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1965). Sussex. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 69–71, 155, 427, 438, 433, 436. ISBN 0-14-071028-0.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 403, 669, 698 738. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.

External links

• Works by or about Somers Clarke at the Internet Archive