George Clarke Jr. (1715-1777)

George Clarke, Jr., was born in New York City and worked as an assistant to his father. Following the death of the unpopular and short-termed governor, Brigadier General William Crosby, he went to England in 1737 to promote his father’s case for the governorship. Although he was unsuccessful for his father, he was made Secretary of the Province for life in recompense. He remained in England and hired a deputy to oversee his affairs in New York. George, Jr., became head of the family at his father’s death in 1760 and lived at Hyde Hall, in Cheshire.

Clarke was unmarried and although his primary heir would traditionally have been his brother’s son, he disapproved of his nephew’s mistreatment of his wife and his various mistresses. So, at his death, Clarke left the Hyde Hall estate to his grandnephew, George Clarke (1768-1835) and the Swainswick estate to his younger brother, Edward (1770-1826).