Richard W. B. Clarke
British civil servant (1910-1975)
Sir Richard William Barnes Clarke, KCB, OBE (13 August 1910 – 21 June 1975), also known as Sir Otto Clarke, was a British civil servant.
Early life and education
Clarke was born in Heanor, Derbyshire, the son of schoolmaster William Thomas Clarke and Helen Rodway Barnes. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, London and Clare College, Cambridge, where he was sixth wrangler in 1931. He sat the examinations of the Royal Statistical Society in 1932 and was awarded their Frances Wood Prize.
Career
Clarke worked for the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, 1932–33. He was then on the staff of the Financial News (later taken over by the Financial Times) until 1939 and devised the Ordinary Share Index, now the Financial Times Ordinary Share Index.
During World War II he served in the Ministries of Information, Economic Warfare, and Supply and Production, and with the Combined Production and Resources Board in Washington, 1942–43.
He joined the Treasury in 1945 and was its Second Permanent Secretary, 1962–66. He was then Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Aviation in 1966, then at the Ministry of Technology until 1970, retiring from the Civil Service in 1971. From 1973, he was a Vice-President of the Royal Institution.
“Richard W. B. Clarke” enters the record as british civil servant (1910-1975). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Richard, Clarke and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7329690. VIAF identifies the subject as 46892700. The Library of Congress control number is n82120726. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1975, 1931 and 1932.
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