Clarke | Thomas Henry Matthews | | Lieutenant | CLARKE, THOMAS HENRY MATTHEWS, Lieutenant, was born 15 June 1869, only son of Staff Surgeon Thomas Matthews Clarke, BA, MB, Trinity College, Dublin, Army Medical Department. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, MB, BCh, BAO), and entered the Army Medical Service 28 January 1897, and served in Kandia, Crete, in 1898, during the massacre of Christians by Moslems, taking part in the affair of 6 September, in which he was wounded in leading a sortie to the rescue of a wounded man, half the sortie party being killed or wounded. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 24 January 1899], and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 7 March 1899]: "Thomas Henry Matthews Clarke, Lieutenant, Royal Army Medical Corps. In recognition of services during the outbreak in Kandia, Crete, including the affair of the 6th September 1898". He became Captain 28 January 1900; was seconded under the Foreign Office; was Personal Physician to Prince George of Greece, 1900-03; received the thanks of the Cretan Chamber of Deputies, 1903; created a CMG in 1903; was a Knight of the Order of St Saviour of Greece. He became Major 28 January 1909; was appointed Physician and Surgeon, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, 1 October 1912; became Lieutenant Colonel 1 March 1915, and Colonel 27 January 1918; created a CBE, 1919. He published 'Sanitary Work in Crete'; Blue Book, Turkey, No 1; 'Prehistoric Sanitation in Crete (Knossus)' ('British Medical Journal', September 1903). Colonel Clarke married Susan Morrell, daughter of P E Chaplin, of Washington and Paris, and granddaughter of the Honourable D J Morrell, of Pennsylvania, USA, and they had one daughter.
Source: DSO recipients (VC and DSO Book) | Army Medical Service |