Clarke Edward Daniel

Clarke, Edward Daniel, LL. D., the son of a well-known traveller and clergyman, was born in 1769, and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. He spent his early life, after graduating, in travelling abroad with Lord Berwick and other young men of family, and he thus visited the whole of Europe (including Russia and Turkey), Palestine and Egypt. Happening to be on the spot at the capitulation of Alexandria, he obtained for the English Government all the antiquarian spoils of the French savante, and this brought him into notice. He also collected manuscripts and objects of interest on his own account. Returning to Cambridge, he presented to the University among other treasures the colossal statue of Eleusinian Demeter that adorns the library. He got a college living, and in 1808 was appointed to the new chair of mineralogy, a science in which he laboured assiduously. His Travels brought him in a very large sum, and his MSS. were sold to the Bodleian Library for £1,000. His health broke down suddenly, and he died in 1822.