Sir Andrew Clarke

Sir Andrew Clarke (born July 27, 1824, Southsea, Hampshire, Eng.—died March 29, 1902, London) was a British engineer, soldier, politician, and civil servant who, as governor of the Straits Settlements, negotiated the treaty that brought British political control to the peninsular Malay States.

Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Clarke received his commission in the Royal Engineers in 1844 and in 1848 was assigned to New Zealand. Five years later he became surveyor general of the state of Victoria in Australia and entered politics, holding Cabinet positions as surveyor general and commissioner of lands. Clarke’s advocacy of universal suffrage led to a split with the government of Victoria and in 1857 to his return to active military duty.

After service in Africa and 10 years as director of engineering works at the Admiralty in London, Clarke was knighted and in 1873 became governor of the Straits Settlements. In January 1874 he negotiated the Pangkor agreement, by which the sultan of Perak, in return for British support against his rivals, agreed to allow a British resident to control his sultanate. This agreement became the model for later treaties that ultimately brought the entire peninsula within the British sphere of influence.

In 1875 Clarke was transferred to India as head of the public-works department. In 1882 he was appointed Britain’s inspector general of fortifications and played a major role in planning the logistics of the Egyptian campaign carried on in 1884–85. Clarke spent the final years of his life as a consulting engineer and as agent-general for Victoria.