CLARKE, HERBERT ALLISON (1891-1948)

CLARKE, HERBERT ALLISON, military officer and Newcastle postmaster, 1935-48; b. Newcastle, 30 Sep 1891, s/o Thomas Alexander Clarke and Annie Jane MacLeod; m. 1923, Bertha Sprague, of Woodstock, N.B.; d. Newcastle, 27 Dec 1948.

H. Allison Clarke served overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I and was a captain at the time of his discharge. Following his marriage in 1923 he moved to the United States, where he worked as sales manager for a lumber company for ten years. He then came back to the Miramichi and was appointed to the Newcastle postmastership in 1935.

Clarke enlisted in the Canadian army as a major in World War II and served as a training instructor in Fredericton and at Camp Utopia. While he was away his post office duties were assigned to a stand-in. After the war he was a lieutenant colonel in the militia. He remained postmaster until his death in 1948, at age fifty-seven. He was succeeded in the position by Rupert Kethro.

Clarke was a member of the Canadian Legion and of a number of fraternal and recreational organizations. He was survived in 1948 by his wife, Bertha Sprague, and three daughters.