William George Clarke

William George Clarke (7 January 1877 – 14 June 1925) was an English journalist and a self-taught archaeologist and naturalist. He helped to found the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, now the Prehistoric Society.

Life William George Clarke was born on 7 January 1877 in Stokesley, Yorkshire, the son of J. W. Clarke. Introducing the text in "An Appreciation", H. J. Massingham wrote:Nobody can read this book without marvelling at the breadth and depth of his knowledge about that unique stretch of country in south-western East Anglia called the Brecks... This strange land Clarke knew off by heart and by head. There was nothing he didn’t know about it. Every insect, every bird, every mollusc, every flower, nearly every rabbit—he knew where they were, why they were there, how they lived, how many of them were there and how many there would be in the future. Fauna, flora, geology, rainfall, physical geography, archeology, village history, their knowledge streamed out of him, and every mortal thing that crept, grew, ran, lay or stood on the beloved heaths he walked with so springy a step he knew as well as though their area had been 400 inches instead of miles. An obituary published in the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, described Clarke as being "one of the deservedly best known all-round field naturalists in East Anglia". Papers and photographs belonging to W. G. Clarke are held by the Norfolk Record Office. Clarke's son, Roy Rainbird Clarke, also became an archaeologist.