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(CLARKE, Sir Andrew) VETCH, R. H. (ed.)
Life of Lieut.-General The Hon. Sir Andrew Clarke GCMG, CB, CIE.
Colonel-Commandant of Royal Engineers, Agent-General of Victoria, Australia. With a Preface by Colonel Sir G.S. Clarke.
First edition, uncommon. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1844, Clarke spent most of his career in civil employment, beginning with surveying and wharf building in Tasmania and road-building in New Zealand. He became surveyor-general of Victoria in 1853; his proposals for a government-controlled railway system were made law in 1857; and he was also responsible for the setting up of the first electric telegraph from Melbourne to Williamstown, Victoria, which by 1857 had reached the borders of New South Wales and South Australia. He was subsequently sent out to quell unrest on the Gold Coast, before becoming director of engineering works at the Admiralty, 1864-73. His most notable achievements were as governor of the Straits Settlements: "He arrived at Singapore on 4 November 1873, and soon he succeeded in reducing the rampant piracy and imposing some control over the local Chinese secret societies. He was also successful in ensuring that the native sultans of Perak and Selangor were persuaded to accept British 'advisers', as was the practice in India, while at the same time cultivating the friendship of the neighbouring maharaja of Johore … overall Clarke helped to maintain the peace and stability of the peninsula and pave the way for its future prosperity" (ODNB).
Octavo. Original plum diapered cloth, title gilt to spine and upper board, blind panels to the boards. With the dust jacket. Photogravure portrait frontispiece and 2 others similar, 8 half-tone plates, 2 folding coloured maps at the rear. Cloth slightly spotted, light toning, mild foxing to the fore edge, else very good with the torn, but complete, repaired jacket.
