John Smith Clarke
British writer and politician
Died when: 73 years 360 days (887 months)Star Sign: Aquarius
John Smith Clarke (4 February 1885 – 30 January 1959) was a British socialist politician, poet, author, newspaper editor, art expert and lion tamer.He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, and began performing in the circus from a young age—riding a horse bareback from age 10 and becoming the country's youngest lion tamer at age 17.
In his early life he was also a sailor and gun runner for Russian revolutionaries.During the First World War he wrote for publications which expressed an anti-war sentiment and gave anti-war lectures, which forced him to go into hiding in Arleston near Derby.
He was part of a group of Socialist Labour Party conscientious objectors called the 'flying corps' who evaded the authorities and avoided prosecution.
In 1920, he visited Russia as a delegate to the Second Congress of the Communist International where he met Vladimir Lenin and cured his dog of an illness.
Clarke joined the Independent Labour Party in the late 1920s and served on Glasgow City Council.In 1929 he was elected Labour MP for Maryhill in Glasgow.
He lost the seat in 1931 and subsequently left the Independent Labour Party.Over his lifetime, he identified as a Bolshevik, anti-capitalist, and neither right nor left wing.
Clarke was interested in the arts and held governance positions for Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow School of Art.
He was a collector of antiquities and amassed a wealth of knowledge about military weapons, armour and Scottish history.He also continued to tame wild animals throughout his life; he demonstrated humane training methods in a lion and tiger cage whilst an MP, and brought a box of snakes to Parliament.
Clarke was commemorated by a blue plaque in Albert Street, Jarrow in 1985.He is a character in a play by historian and feminist Sheila Rowbotham which recounts the life of the suffragette Alice Wheeldon.
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