Background
Clerke was the son of Sir Francis Clerke of Ulcombe and Rochester and his second wife Elizabeth Hastings, widow of John Hastings of Woodlands Dorset and daughter of John Cage of Brightwell Court Buckinghamshire.
Clerke was the son of Sir Francis Clerke of Ulcombe and Rochester and his second wife Elizabeth Hastings, widow of John Hastings of Woodlands Dorset and daughter of John Cage of Brightwell Court Buckinghamshire.
Magdalen College.
He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and entered Middle Temple in 1683. However he interrupted his studies to volunteer against the Duke of Monmouth as a cornet of horse. He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1688.
Clerke lived at Ulcombe, and on his death in 1691, without issue the estate went by devise to Gilbert Clarke, second son of Gilbert Clarke of Chilcot, in Derbyshire.
Clerke was elected Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Rochester in 1690 until his death in 1691.