John Erskine Clarke

John Erskine Clarke (1827–1920) was a British clergyman who issued the first parish magazine. He established several other religious publications and was responsible for founding churches schools and hospitals in Battersea. He also competed at Henley Royal Regatta.

Clarke was born at Cossepor, Bengal, India the eldest son of William Fairlie Clarke an official of the East India Company. Clarke's father died in 1835 and the family returned to Edinburgh. He was admitted to Wadham College, Oxford on 26 June 1846. In 1850 in a single scull he was runner-up in the Diamond Challenge Sculls to Thomas Bone. In 1851 partnering C L Vaughan in a coxless pair, he was runner up in the Silver Goblets at Henley to James Aitken and Joseph William Chitty.

Clarke took Holy Orders and became curate of St Mary, Low Harrogate in 1851. In 1852 he became curate of St Mary, Lichfield until 1856, when he became vicar of St Michael's Church, Derby. While he was at St Michael's he started the world's first commercial parish magazine inset, named Parish Magazine, in January 1859. He was an active supporter of the Derby Co-operative Society providing a library and as a representative of the Working Men's Association helped provide for a grocery store. He was also president of what was known as the Happy Home Union. In 1863 he founded The Children's Prize, a paper for young children later called The Prize. In 1866 he moved to St Andrew Derby The first edition went on sale on 1 December 1866. Clarke became a Prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral in 1869. Clarke was a member of the Board of Governors of the Provident Dispensary (Battersea), and saw an urgent need for an in-patient hospital in Battersea. Through public subscription and charitable gifts, Clarke was able to buy a house in Five Houses Lane, Battersea, (now Bolingbroke Grove) which was owned by Viscount Bolingbroke and established there in 1880 a "House of Sickness" which became the Bolingbroke Hospital. Clarke's aim was that the hospital should provide for "the artisan or self respecting middle class people" who preferred to pay something for their care instead of going into a Poor Law Institution (workhouse).

On 27 July 1895, Clarke was made Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria, and after her death in 1901 continued in the same role to King Edward VII. He built a new vicarage for St Luke's on his own property in 1901 and was Vicar of St Luke's from 1901 until 1914.

Clarke suffered a stroke in 1916. He died four years later aged 92 at St Luke's Vicarage and was buried at Elvington, York.

There are memorials to Clarke in St Mary's and St Luke's Churches in Battersea. A house in Battersea Grammar School was named after him.