Our Masonic Contemporaries.

OUR MASONIC CONTEMPORARIES .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JULY 13 , 1 S 61 .

BEO . HYDE CLABKE , D . C . I . Bro . H yde Clarke is a son of His Excellency Henry Clarke , a cadet of the baronetal branch of the princely House of Harcourt . He Avas originally intended for the profession of the Civil Law , and a parliamentary career , his family connections having been , previous " to the

Reform Bill , virtual proprietors of several boroughs . At an early age he proceeded to the Continent , pursuing a severe course of study in the intervals of di plomatic ancl military service , principally on the Spanish and Portuguese staff , in co-operation with his father . At the request of the latter , Col . Clarke gave up his military

career , and returned to England , with a view of attending to his family affairs ; ancl has , from time to time , contributed to military literature . The history of Wellington ' s early career in The Wellington Atlas was appreciated by military critics . In 1859 , at the request of the United Service Institution , he read before their

members a memoir upon the defence of India—a subject embraced in his Avork , Colonisation , Defence , and Railways in our Indian Empire . This memoir was published in the "Journal" of the Institution , ancl also in a separate form , and excited much attention amongst all classes interested in Indian affairs . He is likewise the author of numerous articles on the subject of the national defences , of which he was one of the earliest advocates .

On returning to England Bro . Hyde Clarke was early led to engage in civil engineering . He had previously been employed in a design for a harbour on the Bel gian coast , and applied himself to the study of the hydraulic works of Holland , on which he afterwards published a treatise .

Iu 1 S 36 Bro . Clarke became Engineer to the Grand Caledonian Railway , which he projected , and by which he proposed to embank a considerable portion of Morecambe Bay . Por this undertaking he received the thanks of the county of Cumberland , of North Lancashire , of the city of Glasgow , and of tlie town of Dumfries , by the

corporation of which he was entertained ; but the Crown and the Duchy of Lancaster disputing the rights in the land proposed to be reclaimed from the sea , the undertaking lingered for many years . The late George Stephenson afterwards became one of the engineers , and this was one of his favourite projects . * The works in

Morecambe Bay , executed by Mr . Brumlees , although not of the proportions ori ginally devised hy Bro . Clarke , are very remarkable . The Morecambe Bay plan led to Bro . Clarke being consulted on a design for improving Fleetwood Harbour , and on other hydraulic worksincluding the Solway

re-, clamation , the Great Wash , the Dee and Lamlash Harbour . His plan for the improvement of Dublin Harbour , by forming a canal through the neck of the Hill of Howth , was taken in hand by Mr . P . W . Beaumont , C . E ., whose report was published by order ofthe commissioners . As , however , at that time , active engagement in

engineering works was inconsistent with Bro . Clarke ' s views , although he continued to give his attention to the subject , he became better known in connection with eno-ineering literature , and particularly Avith the professional press . ^ He was for twenty years one of the editors of The Civil Engineer and Architects Journal , ancl was engaged for some time with John Herapath on The

Railway Journal , on leaving whicli he became the proprietor of the Railway Herald newspaper , and of the Railway Register and Railway Portfolio , monthly magazines . In these publications will be found various standard articles on the political economy and statistics of railways and public works , many of which have been

reprinted . Bro . Clarke stood alone in combating the doctrine that railways engulphed the bidlion of the country , ancl in establishing the sounder teachings which are now received . These views are embodied in his treatise on the Theory of Railway Investment , 1846 . He devoted particular attention to the management of railway traffic

, on Avhich he published separately , Contributions to Railway Statistics , ISM , 1845 , and 1846 , and Contributions to Bel gian Railway Statistics . He was a strenuous defender of railway progress , at a time when it was urged that measures should be taken to limit speed on railways , ancl prohibit the broad gauge . On the introduction by Sir

Macdonald Stephenson , Mr . Heath , and Mr . John Chapman , of the Indian railway system , Bro . Clarke took an active part , and published , what has been often quoted as a standard work , on the principles of Indian railway traffic , in which he has been fully justified by the results

since obtained , thus rendering great service to the cause at a critical period . Among numerous contributions by Bro . Hyde Clarke to engineering literature , must be included the work on the Engineering of ' Holland , as applied to the Construction of ¦ Dykes , in which the observations of the

Dutch or Italian engineers , as well as those of the author , are embodied . A very able memoir , founded on this work , was read by Mr . J . P . White , before the Institution of Civil Engineers , to the discussion of which , Bro . Clarke contributed a note , which will be found in the "Proceedings" of that body . Hydraulic engineering

received particular attention at Bro . Clarke ' s hands , and he too ] - ; a leading part for some years in the discussion on the theory of bars and silting . Another valuable work is one on the Hydrostatic and H ydraulic Dry Docks and Patent Slips of the United States . Many of the plates and materials are likewise reproduced in the

Portfolio of Engineering Engravings , published by Mr . Weale , in 1859 . An article on "the Manufacture of Bricks in Holland , " in the Quarterly Papers on Engineering , is also inserted in Mr . Robson ' s Rudimentary Treatise on Brides and Tiles .

A series of papers by Bro . Clarke on "Ancient Engineering" in The Civil Engineers and Architect's Journal , derived from the classic authors , led him to some researches on engineering history ancl biography . He translated Arago ' s Life of Wait , with many additions and illustrations , and it was afterwards published in a separate form . The " Memoir of the romantic career

of Trevithick , " the inventor of the locomotive , in the same journal , has been republished in many of the professional and popular journals , and is still the standard biography of that great engineer . On the death of George Stephenson , Bro . Clarke contributed to the abovenamed journal , in a series of papers , a copious memoir of

that distinguished man , in which he regarded him , not only as an engineer , but in his social relations as a working man . This memoir was not reprinted , but in an abridged form passed through several of the popular journals , and became the model of Mr . Smiles' life of Stephensonin whicli singularly enough Bro . Hyde

, Clarke is the only authority not quoted . Among the memoirs published in the Journal from the pen of Bro . Clarke are short biographies of Dr . Potts , the inventor of hydraulic piledriving , and others . A leading principle maintained by Bro . Clarke as a