John Moulding Clarke was born in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancaster, Lancashire, England on 28 July 1889. He was articled to the architect J.A. Seward in Preston, Lancashire (1906-11) and attended Preston Art and Technical Schools. He passed his qualifying examination as an architect in 1911 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1912. He was subsequently active as an architect until c.1914.
In addition to his work as an architect, Clarke was also a painter and etcher. He studied painting and etching at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London; and the Royal Academy Schools and the Royal College of Art in London.
During the 1920s and 1930s he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London; the Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy, Wales; Manchester City Art Gallery; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.
His address was given as Plungington Hotel, Preston, Lancashire (1891); Brentwood, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire (1912); 28 Woburn Place, Russell Square, London (1914); Matlock, Derbyshire (1924); Preston, Lancashire (1926); Pinner, Middlesex (1929); Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (1932); and Preston, Lancashire (1934). His address was given as The Architectural Association,34 Bedford Square, London in 1939, which suggests that he have a teaching post at the school. He died at Wareham, Norfolk on 10 January 1961.
Church of Our Lady and St. Hubert, Great Harwood, Lancs.; additions to "The Grange", Hackney, Matlock. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926