Clarke, William (1),
a learned English divine and antiquary, was born at Haghmon Abbey, Shropshire, in 1696. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow on Jan. 22, 1717. In 1724 he was presented to the rectory of Buxted, in Sussex, by archbishop Wake, and was made prebendary in the cathedral church of Chichester. He resigned the rectory of Buxted in 1768, and in June, 1770, was installed chancellor of the Church of Chichester. He died Oct. 21, 1771. He assisted in the translation of Frapp's Lectures on Poetry and in Annotations on the Greek Testament, and was the author of several of tie notes subjoined to the English version of Bleterie's Life of the Emperor Julian. His chief work was the Connection of the Roman, Saxon, and English Coins (1767, 4to). See Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.; Allibone, Diet. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s. v;