Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright.
24 Facts About Marcus Clarke
2.
Marcus Clarke is best known for his 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life, about the convict system in Australia, and widely regarded as a classic of Australian literature.
3.
Marcus Clarke was born in 11 Leonard Place Kensington, London, the only son of London barrister William Hislop Clarke and Amelia Elizabeth Matthews Clarke, who died when he was just four years old.
4.
Marcus Clarke was the nephew of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke, a Governor of Western Australia, and grandson of a retired military medical officer, Dr Andrew Clarke, who made his fortune in the West Indies and settled in Ireland.
5.
Marcus Clarke had a slight stammer which remained his whole life.
6.
Marcus Clarke attracted Hopkins' attention primarily due to his eloquence, leading Hopkins to describe him as a "kaleidoscopic, parti-coloured, harlequinesque, thaumatropic Being" Marcus Clarke had problems with applying himself to his schoolwork, and was deprived, in his senior year, of the poetry prize as punishment.
7.
The biography "Cyril Hopkins' Marcus Clarke" is the only first-hand account of Clarke's early life in London.
8.
At age 17, his cousin, Andrew Marcus Clarke, suggested he emigrate to Victoria where another relative, their uncle, James Langton Marcus Clarke, was a county court judge working in Ararat.
9.
Marcus Clarke was already writing stories for the Australian Magazine, when in 1867 he joined the staff of The Argus and The Australasian in Melbourne through the introduction of Dr Robert Lewins, writing under the heading 'The Peripatetic Philosopher'.
10.
Marcus Clarke was noted for his vivid descriptions of Melbourne's street scenes and city types, including the "low life" of opium dens, brothels and gambling houses.
11.
Marcus Clarke always claimed he was interested in the "parti-colored, patch-worked garment of life".
12.
Marcus Clarke contributed to many colonial newspapers and he was the local correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph.
13.
In 1868 Marcus Clarke founded the Yorick Club, which soon numbered among its members the chief Australian men of letters and 1869 he married the actress Marian Dunn, daughter of actor and comedian John Dunn, with whom he had six children.
14.
Marcus Clarke wrote "two sparkling comedies" specially for Marian, A Daughter of Eve and Forbidden Fruit.
15.
Marcus Clarke briefly visited Tasmania in 1870 at the request of The Argus to experience at first hand the settings of articles he was writing on the convict period.
16.
Marcus Clarke wrote The Peripatetic Philosopher, a series of amusing papers reprinted from The Australasian; Long Odds, a novel; and numerous comedies and pantomimes, the best of which was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
17.
In spite of his popular success, Marcus Clarke was constantly involved in financial difficulties and twice he was forced into insolvency.
18.
In 1872, Marcus Clarke was appointed secretary to the trustees of the Melbourne Public Library and in 1876 became sub librarian.
19.
The library holds a unique collection of papers that relate to Marcus Clarke; the finding aid accessed via the website describes the "correspondence, manuscripts of prose and plays, notebooks, diaries, newspapers and press cuttings, legal documents and other miscellaneous papers and books".
20.
Marcus Clarke was an important literary figure in Australia, and at the center of a bohemian circle in Melbourne.
21.
Marcus Clarke was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery and in August 1898, a "fine granite monument" was erected over the grave.
22.
Marcus Clarke came first in a 1927 newspaper poll in Melbourne to identify the top Australian novelist.
23.
Marcus Clarke had a holiday home on the outskirts of Melbourne in what is the suburb of Dingley Village.
24.
Marcus Clarke was inducted into The Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2017.