AustLit

Clarke came to Australia in 1850. He spent some time in New Zealand before returning to Sydney about 1851, and opening a book and music selling and publishing business, at 205 George Street, in partnership with W. P. Woolcott. Clarke bought Woolcott out in 1856 and continued the business on his own. He was a successful and influential publisher of song sheets, and his 'Music Hall' in George Street was a popular meeting place for musicians. After adding engravings and photography to his stock in trade, Clarke also became known as an authority on fine art. Clarke had important connections in the social, artistic and political elites of the day, but he was unsuccessful as a businessman, enduring two bankruptcies in the 1880s before dying in poverty in 1893 (ADB).

For further information, see Death of an Old Citizen : Mr. Jacob Richard Clarke (Sydney, 1893).