John S. Clarke facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John S. Clarke
John S. Clarke, c. 1918
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Maryhill
In office 30 May 1929 – 7 October 1931
Preceded by	James Brown Couper
Succeeded by	Douglas Jamieson
Personal details
Born	(1885-02-04)4 February 1885 Jarrow, England
Died	30 January 1959(1959-01-30) (aged 73) Glasgow, Scotland
Political party	Independent Labour
Spouse	Sarah Millicent Balkind
Occupation	Art expert lion tamer politician writer

John Smith Clarke (born 4 February 1885 – died 30 January 1959) was a very interesting British person. He was a writer, a newspaper editor, a poet, a socialist politician, and even a lion tamer!

Born in Jarrow, England, John Clarke started performing in the circus when he was very young. He rode horses without a saddle from age 10. By age 17, he became the youngest lion tamer in the country. In his early life, he also worked as a sailor and helped Russian revolutionaries by moving weapons for them.

During the First World War, he wrote for newspapers that were against the war. This meant he had to hide from the authorities. He was part of a group of Socialist Labour Party members who refused to fight in the war because of their beliefs. They were called the 'flying corps' because they moved around to avoid being caught. In 1920, he visited Russia as a representative for a big meeting of socialist groups.

Clarke joined the Independent Labour Party in the late 1920s. In 1929, he was elected as a Labour MP for Maryhill in Glasgow. He lost his seat in 1931 and later left the Independent Labour Party. Throughout his life, he believed in Bolshevik ideas and was against capitalism. He often said he was neither right-wing nor left-wing in politics.

John Clarke was also very interested in art. He held important positions at places like the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. He collected old items and knew a lot about military weapons, armor, and Scottish history. He also continued to work with wild animals. While he was an MP, he showed how to train lions and tigers kindly. He even brought a box of snakes to Parliament once!

Early Life and Adventures

John Smith Clarke was born in Jarrow on 4 February 1885. His family was quite poor. His father, also named John Smith Clarke, worked in circuses and shops, so the family moved around a lot. His mother, Sally Ann Chiswell, was a school teacher.

John didn't go to a regular school for long. He started performing in the circus at age 10, riding horses bareback and doing tricks. By age 17, he was a lion tamer. He said he was the youngest in the country at that time. He was sometimes hurt by the animals he worked with.

While living in Newcastle upon Tyne, he joined a local socialist group. In 1906, he became the editor of their newspaper, The Keel. Clarke also worked as a sailor and helped Russian revolutionaries by secretly moving weapons for them. He wrote about these exciting experiences in a series of articles called Roughing it Round the World.

His writing skills helped him get jobs in publishing. He started writing for newspapers and journals in Edinburgh. He also worked as a secretary for Jane Clapperton, a feminist writer who greatly influenced his political ideas. In 1911, he married Sarah Millicent Balkind, who was from Russia. They had one son, John Hume Chiswell Clarke.

Political Journey

Standing Against War

Around 1910, John Clarke became a socialist and joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP). He edited the party's newspaper, The Socialist, for a few years, including during the First World War. He also wrote for other journals.

Clarke was strongly against the war. He wrote anti-war articles, but he managed to avoid being put in prison for his views. The Socialist newspaper was especially against the war. It tried to convince working-class people that the war was caused by capitalism, not by patriotism. Clarke wrote in The Socialist: "Our attitude is neither pro-German nor pro-British, but anti-capitalist and all that it stands for in every country of the world."

During the war, he was part of a group called the 'flying corps'. These were conscientious objectors, people who refused to fight in the war because of their beliefs. They would "fly" away from the authorities to avoid being arrested. They had a network of safe places, like a farm near Derby. Members of the 'flying corps' would give speeches and hand out socialist writings, then quickly leave to avoid being caught. After a friendly policeman warned him he was about to be arrested, Clarke fled Scotland. He spent much of the war hiding on a farm in Arleston, working as a laborer and continuing to write for The Socialist. Even though it was hard to publish, the newspaper became very popular, growing from 3,000 readers in 1914 to 20,000 in 1918.

Alice Wheeldon was a suffragette and anti-war campaigner. Clarke gave a speech at her funeral while he was on the run.

A woman named Alice Wheeldon, who fought for women's right to vote and was against the war, helped provide places for the 'flying corps' in Derby. She was imprisoned because she was accused of planning something against the war effort. She died soon after she was released. Even though Clarke was hiding from the police at the time, he went to her funeral and gave a speech.

A Trip to Russia

In 1920, John Clarke was chosen as a representative from Scotland to attend a big meeting of socialist groups called the Second Congress of the Communist International in Russia. While he was there, he famously cured Lenin's dog of an illness. Lenin, a very important leader in Russia, even gave Clarke a signed photograph. Clarke wrote about his experiences in a book called Pen Pictures of Russia under the 'Red Terror'. When he returned from Russia, he sailed across the North Sea alone to avoid being arrested.

Member of Parliament

In the 1920s, the government stopped focusing so much on anti-war groups, so Clarke could come out of hiding. In the late 1920s, he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and was elected to the Glasgow Corporation, which was like a local council.

In 1929, he was elected as a Labour Party MP for Glasgow Maryhill. While in Parliament, he was known for playing jokes and writing funny poems about politicians who were still alive.

He lost his seat in the 1931 election and left the ILP in 1932. He had some disagreements with his local ILP groups because he sometimes voted with the official Labour Party instead of the ILP. In the same year, he was in the news for missing jury service because he got stuck on Ailsa Craig, a small island. From 1941 to 1951, Clarke returned to serving on the Glasgow Corporation.

Art and Animal Expert

John Clarke's interest in the arts grew throughout his life. In 1925, he became a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a group that studies old things. In 1930, the King appointed him to the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland. From 1930 to 1933, he was a trustee of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which displays portraits of famous Scottish people. He was also on the board of the Glasgow School of Art.

He greatly admired the Scottish poet Robert Burns and was known as one of the best speakers about Burns in the country. In 1943, he became president of the Burns Federation. In his personal life, Clarke collected historical items, including Marie Antoinette's snuff box and old military weapons. He was considered an expert on military weapons and armor, and he even started writing a Scottish Encyclopaedia.

Clarke's love for animals, which began in the circus, lasted his whole life. He continued to practice lion taming even when he was an MP. In 1930, he visited a menagerie (a collection of wild animals) and went into the lion's cage. He believed that animals could be trained kindly. To prove his point, he showed his humane training methods at a menagerie in Glasgow. The animal trainer there was very impressed, calling Clarke "the bravest man I have met." Clarke wrote about his ideas on "gentling" dangerous animals in his book Circus Parade (1936), which also tells the history of the circus.

It wasn't just lions and tigers that interested Clarke. When he was an MP, he brought a box of snakes into the House of Commons, surprising the other MPs. He showed off his skill at snake charming. In 1932, Clarke supported the idea of a public zoo in Glasgow, like the successful one in London.

Political Beliefs

John Clarke was a socialist and a Marxist, but his views changed over time. A historian named Raymond Challinor said that during the First World War, Clarke was a socialist "in a time when to be a socialist meant being continually in danger of losing one's job." Police often tried to stop his anti-war speeches. For example, in November 1915, police targeted one of his talks in Glasgow, but he managed to sneak out and avoid arrest.

After returning from Moscow in the early 1920s, Clarke decided that even though he supported the Soviet Union, he didn't think a similar system would work in Britain. He never joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. He admired Lenin as a person but didn't see him as a perfect leader. When he edited The Worker newspaper, he identified as a Bolshevik. However, he also reported on what he saw as problems with the leaders of the Comintern, a group of communist parties. After this, his views became more moderate. In 1929, he wrote a newspaper article titled "Why I am not left-wing," explaining that he saw himself as neither right-wing nor left-wing.

Clarke's interest in Robert Burns also included the poet's political ideas. In 1917, Clarke wrote a pamphlet that said Burns was not an imperialist but a revolutionary. In 1925, he published another pamphlet that showed Burns as a social reformer.

Later Life and Remembrance

A blue plaque honoring John S. Clarke is located on Albert Street, Jarrow, where he was born.

John Clarke passed away on 30 January 1959, in Glasgow, at the age of 73. His obituary in The Daily Telegraph newspaper was called "Life in the Jungle." It described him as a "refreshing character."

In 1985, the Tyne and Wear Council honored Clarke with a blue plaque near his birthplace on Albert Street in Jarrow. A blue plaque is a special sign that marks a building where a famous person lived or worked. Clarke's grandson, Major Ian C. Clarke, unveiled the plaque.

John S. Clarke is also a character in a play by Sheila Rowbotham called Friends of Alice Wheeldon. The play is based on the events that led to Alice Wheeldon's death. In the play, he is described as "an ex-lion tamer and zoo owner."

The Scottish poet Edwin Morgan also mentioned Clarke in a poem. The poem talks about Clarke's love for wild animals, especially snakes:

...
John S. Clarke, festooned with snakes, said, 'Touch one,
look closely, they're quite beautiful; not slimy;
come on, come down to the front now, that's better.
Don't be afraid, girls, aren't these eyes pure jewels?
Come on lads, stretch your hands out, try this johnny,
I bet it's like no creature you ever handled.'
...

Electoral History