Olive Clarke

Olive Clarke ( Teasdale, 19 May 1922 – 18 December 2023) was an English farmer and public figure in Cumbria.

Early life and education Clarke was born Olive Teasdale, on 19 May 1922, an only child in a farming family.

Settle and Carlisle Railway Clarke was a member, and later chairman, of the North West England Transport Consultative Committee, and chaired the enquiry into the future of the Settle and Carlisle Railway. She served as a member of the deanery synod of Carlisle Cathedral and as a trustee of its development trust. and OBE in the 1994 New Year Honours "For services to the public and to the community in Cumbria."

In 1993 she was appointed a Deputy lieutenant of Cumbria.

In 2012 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in recognition of her "outstanding personal achievements and continuing record of service to agriculture and rural life".

In 2022, Clarke was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cumbria Farming Awards "in recognition of her life-long commitment to rural issues across Cumbria". In October 2023, at the British Farming Awards, Clarke was awarded a Special Recognition Lifetime Achievement, and was described as "Farming's original female trailblazer".

Clarke was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers and a Freeman of the City of London. She lived her whole life on two farms, latterly Kaker Mill Farm at Preston Patrick.

Olive Clarke died at her home on 18 December 2023, at the age of 101. Her funeral took place at St Patrick's Church, Preston Patrick on 4 January 2024.