WHEN asked during an interview to make his own epitaph, President Ellis Clarke responded with—"Upon him was greatness thrust, he bore it well."

It is true he bore his honours and his high offices exceptionally well. Some, though, may dispute whether greatness was thrust upon him. Ellis Clarke has worked hard, and often in difficult circumstances, for his achievements.

Who would have thought that a boy from Belmont who grew up in the colonial era would become Attorney General, Governor General, President and framer of the Constitution. Born before the advent of party politics, he saw the limited franchise, the coming of the People's National Movement and the People's Democratic Party.

He was head of state when Eric Williams died and appointed his successor, and he saw the first peaceful transition of power during the Independence era.

Loaded with honours including the Trinity Cross, three knighthoods, the Order of the Liberator and an honorary Doctor of Laws, Sir Ellis goes into retirement after 34 years of distinguished public service. Few can point to serious blemishes in all these years of being on the frontline. His achievement is immense.
 

Private Practice
 

Ellis Immanuel Innocent Clarke was born of middle class parents in a house at the corner of Pelham and Megler Streets, Belmont, on December 28, 1917.

He took the path of brilliant scholars like Eric Williams and Rudranath Capildeo, winning the Island Scholarship at St Mary's; and studying law at University College, London. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1940, and from 1941 started a private practice.

One of the more powerful influences in Clarke's life, both inspirationally and financially, was the legendary figure of Muzumbo Lazare.

Lazare was a conscious black man who refused to be limited by his colour in a very colonial era. A big landowner, Lazare lived in opulence and style, entertaining the Governor and other dignitaries. From him Clarke admitted that he learnt much, probably most of all that the sky was the limit.

Lazare adopted Clarke's Aunt Hilda, and gave her all his considerable property when he died. Hilda never married, like all of the other Pollard daughters, except Clarke's mother. So in a sense he was treated almost as an only child on his mother's side, the centre of attention. He also inherited much property and money from them.

Close association with adults made him seem grown-up before his time, giving him what he called "a premature adult attitude to life." He was no sportsman, and he did not even pass the Exhibition and Island Scholarship examination at the first attempt.
 

Love Of Dance
 

"I've never had the spirit of adventure. I suppose I'm fundamentally placid," he confessed later. But Clarke was a very determined and serious young man, one of his few diversions being an incurable love of dancing.

In his legal career he soon showed notable ability. After 13 years of practice he was drafted into the Civil Service as Solicitor General from 1954 56, later as Deputy Colonial Secretary. From 1957 to 1962 he served as Attorney General, and he even acted as Chief, Secretary and. Governor during the colonial
 

Designated as Chief Justice, Clarke never took up the post and was instead asked to be Constitutional Adviser to Cabinet from 1961. It was the period before the 1962 Independence and his were the skills that helped draft the Constitution and iron out details with the Opposition Democratic Labour Party.

After this he went into diplomacy, with a long spell from 1962 as Ambassador to Washington and Mexico and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

After the retirement of Sir Solomon Hochoy as Governor General, Clarke, by then Sir Ellis, took over. He served two terms as President - From 1976, seeing the country through the death of Eric Williams in 1981 and the defeat of the long ruling PNM in 1986.

Honours have come in abundance, three knighthoods from the Queen among them. He has received the Trinity Cross and El Gran Cordon, the highest awards in Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. UWI has given him an honorary doctor of laws degree. There is little doubt that he deserves them.
 

Diplomatic Career
 

There were some difficulties with satisfying the Opposition with the Independence Constitution, and the DLP complained that the electoral system discriminated against them. But largely the Constitution Clarke authored has worked reasonably well for 25 years. Few constitutional cases have showed his work to be faulty.

As a diplomat Solicitor General and Attorney General he has been precise, exact, and usually correct. His diplomatic career is without incident on one side or notable achievements on the other, but for posts like the UN and Washington that is par for the course.

President Clarke has excelled at being the head of state, there is little doubt of that. By his Presence at functions of the various religions he has showed the way to tolerance. He has given respectability to Carnival and steelband, boosted any number of charities, helped football, the Boy Scouts, the Rotary Club, horse racing. It's a very long list.

A measured voice of reason will speak on Trinidad and Tobago's behalf in the United Nations, and this antidote quality of Ambassador Ellis Clarke may not be the least contribution by the new Caribbean nation to the International issues of peace and war in the world body.

Mr. Clarke, aged 45, is not so much the master of the soft answer as of the soft manner. Combined with his gifts is a successful lawyer, this makes him a remarkable choice to head the Trinidad and Tobago embassy in Washington and the permanent mission to the UN at Lake Success, N.Y.

He can debate as strongly as any, with an occasionally stinging wit that, spoken with expressionless calm, never seems to leave bitter after-effects. One of the few times when he got a tongue-lashing from an Opposition legislator was the result of a letter in reply to a written query, A fair bet would have been that little offense would have been taken if the same words had been accompanied by the serene Clarke presence. For he had spoken more sharply in the past without being accused of "arrogance". For instance he floored criticism of a Government Bill when he replied: "The law, may I point out, cannot prescribe for every twist of the criminal mind".

Ambassador Clarke explains his apparent placidity at all times, as "laziness", which he says is the most significant thing about him, This might be misleading, but in a sense it is true. In the poisonous atmosphere after his Government decided to "go it alone" to independence, rather than discuss an Eastern Caribbean Federation minus secessionist Jamaica, Clarke drew some of the bitter sarcasm felt by federally-minded politicians and officials at the Trinidad offer of unitary association with the former sister Territories. At a cocktail party one official bowed and scraped before him, hailing him as "Lord and master", to which Clarke replied by popping some salted peanuts into his mouth. Without a change of expression he inquired about the greeter's health and changed the subject.
 

In 1949 Clarke planned to resign as Attorney General if the office became as political one, as it did in December last. He said then that he intended to resume private practice in that event and might support a political party. However, he never betrayed any party preference. Indeed, Clarke served both the Gomes and PNM Governments. As a leading lay Catholic he might have had personal reserve lions when Church-State ties were not as cordial as today's yet he gave no sign of that.

This says much for his integrity as a civil servant and possibly more for his diplomatic qualities. To most people, however, his appointment is recognition of sheer merit.

An exhibitioner from Belmont Intermediate School, 1929, Mr. Clarke had a brilliant career at St. Mary's College where be won a House Scholarship and the Jerningham Silver Medal in 1932, the Jerningham Book Prize in 1934, and an Island Scholarship (Mathematics) in 1938 when he also took the Jerningham Gold Medal.

At London University where he took the Bachelor of Law degree, heading the list of Upper Second Class Honours, and at Grays Inn, Clark made his mark before he returned he returned to practice in Port of Spain (1941). For 13 years he built up a sterling reputation as a criminal and civil lawyer. He was the leading junior counsel (non-Q.C.) when he was appointed Solicitor -General in 1954, and it was remarkable at the time that he got the job straight from the Bar instead of going through the ranks of the legal service.

Until he was appointed Ambassador to Washington he held the post of Constitutional Adviser to the Cabinet; perhaps the one for which history will remember him most. As Constitutional Adviser he had his offices a stone's throw from Governor General's House; rumour is that Clark will succeed Sir Solomon Hochoy next July. It is once more a token of his near indispensability that more than one person thinks that he would fill the Governor-General's office with distinction, yet would much more usefully be retained at the U.N. and in Washington.

Personal tragedy struck in May, while he was on this official assignment, when his youngest son, Richard, aged three, died. It belies Mr. Clarke's self-diagnosed laziness that he was soon afterwards to be engrossed in the draft Constitution culminating in his attendance at the Marlborough House conference which decided the details of independence.

A devoted family man, Mr. Clarke was married in 1952 to the former Ermyntrude Hagley, a bookkeeper from Grenada whom he met in 1949 while she visited Trinidad. They have two children — Peter and Margaret Ann.

Realist Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke illustrates the new political realism, the career open to talent proclaimed by Government in 1956.
 
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FORMER FIRST LADY DIES

Lara Pickford-Gordon

NEWSDAY

April 24, 2002

Page 6

Lady Ermintrude Clarke, wife of TT's first President, Sir Ellis Clarke, died yesterday afternoon around 4 pm at her home in Ellerslie Park.

She was 81 years old. Lady Clarke had been ailing with a heart condition for some time.

Grenadian by birth, Lady Clarke had been married to Sir Ellis for almost 50 years, and the couple was due to celebrate their golden anniversary this year.

Lady Clarke was known for being gracious and gentle. She was also described as unassuming. During her lifetime she was patron of many activities and organisations. She leaves to mourn two children Peter and Margaret Ann, who resides in England, and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have yet to be finalised.

Last night, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he would first speak to Sir Ellis to see what role the Government could play in her burial, while giving recognition to her role in life.

Meanwhile, the funeral service for Theresa Williams, wife of former President of the Senate Michael Williams, takes place from 10 am today at the Church of the Assumption, Maraval.

Mrs. Williams died last Saturday.

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