Cecil Belfield Clarke was born on 12 April 1894 in Barbados and attended Combermere School before winning the island's scholarship in Natural Science, securing a place at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, in 1914, travelling to England during the opening weeks of the First World War.
After completing his medical training at University College Hospital, London, Clarke opened a general practice near the Elephant and Castle in south London in the early 1920s, a practice he ran for nearly fifty years, including throughout the heavy bombing of the area during the Blitz.
In 1931 Clarke co-founded the League of Coloured Peoples with fellow physician Harold Moody, Britain's first organised Black civil rights group, whose early members included C.L.R. James, Jomo Kenyatta, Una Marson and Paul Robeson.
By 1936 Clarke had become a District Medical Officer, reportedly the only Black man to hold such a post across the entire London County Council, and he also formulated an early paediatric dosage formula still used today, commonly known as Clark's Rule.
Clarke served on the British Medical Association's Council as a representative for the West Indies, was appointed medical adviser to the newly independent government of Ghana in the 1950s, and was made an honorary fellow by his Cambridge college, with a hall of student accommodation later named in his honour.
- Co-founded the League of Coloured Peoples, Britain's first Black civil rights organisation, 1931
- Formulated the paediatric dosage formula known as Clark's Rule
- Ran a medical practice near the Elephant and Castle for nearly 50 years
- Served on the British Medical Association's Council as West Indies representative
- Appointed medical adviser to the newly independent government of Ghana
- Professional expertise and activism can reinforce each other. Clarke's medical career and his civil rights organising both drew on his standing as a respected London doctor.
- Overlooked contributions can be formally honoured decades later. Clarke's blue plaque and named college accommodation arrived more than 50 years after his death.