Clarke, Thomas Brooke, Reverend, Auditor of the Greenwich Naval Asylum, 1757-1833.

This collection consists of sixty-six letters almost all of them letters received by Clarke while he was auditor of the Naval Asylum at Greenwich. Several letters refer to his appointment including one from Lord Hawkesbury, and there is a letter from Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister, about the problem of Clarke's non residence in his Irish livings. There are some letters about land in Greenwich and Asylum business, including one drawing attention to the behaviour of hooligans in Greenwich Park. A number of the letters do not relate directly; they include letters about Clarke's connection with the Duke of Cumberland and there is also a series of letters from Clarke's own son written as an undergraduate at Trinity Hall, Cambridge between 1812 and 1814. There are some letters from George Fitzernest while at Magdalen College, Oxford. In addition some of the letters refer to Clarke's appointment as auditor, to the renting of a house in Greenwich, the building of an asylum house, to glebe land of Pinner and produce of Harrow.

Administrative / biographical background
Clarke, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, held livings in Ireland in which he was non-resident. He was a confidant of Nicholas Vansittart, Lord Bexley (1766-1851), and tutor to the Duke of Cumberland's illegitimate son, George Fitzernest. Clarke was appointed Auditor of the Naval Asylum at Greenwich, which position he held from 1805 to 1821. His appointment and those of the Secretary and Chaplain were later criticized by Sir Charles Pole (q.v.) in the House of Commons on the grounds that none of them had ever had any sea service.