G88 
Tn Memurlam : 
employed his services as special commissioner in procuring 
graphic pictures of Irish life and Irish agriculture, when legis- 
lation on Irish land was attracting public attention. 
Mr. Clarke was the founder and original editor of the 
Chamber of Agriculture Journal, and for twelve years, from 
1867 to 1879, he also held the post of Secretary to the Central 
Chamber of Agriculture, where his large acquaintance with 
farmers in every county of England greatly aided his work. In 
this capacity his services proved also of value on questions 
relating to the prevention of Cattle Disease, and in the prepara- 
tion of the exhaustive analysis of local Customs of Compensa- 
tion for Unexhausted Improvements, made by a Committee of the 
Chambers before the passing of the Agricultural Holdings Act 
of 1875. For the last five years of his life, and until shortly 
before his death, he was the Editor of BelVs Weekly Messenger, 
the oldest of our agricultural papers. 
His sudden death from an apoplectic seizure on November 17, 
1887, deprived the agricultural community of a ready writer 
and an acute and thoughtful critic. 
John Coleman 
was born on July 1, 1830, and began his farming career at the 
age of 16 at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He was, 
indeed, the very first pupil that ever entered the walls of that 
institution. Two years later, while still a student, his uncle Mr. 
Robert Brown, a founder of the College, made him his agent over 
a very small property. His first business engagement was as estate 
agent at Albury Park, near Gruildford, Surrey, then the property 
and residence of the late Mr. Honry Drammond, and now of his 
son-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland. Being then barely out 
of his teens, his farming experience was at that time compara- 
tively small ; but his capabilities were considerable, and his zeal 
and energy conquered all obstacles. Mr. Coleman soon made 
his mark in the agricultural world ; and after holding several 
important stewardsiiips, he became agent for the Yorkshire 
estates of Lord Wenlock, by whom he was much esteemed. He 
resided nearly twenty years on the Escrick property, which he 
left several years ago, after the death of the second Lord. 
From 1856 to 1862 Mr. Coleman was Professor of Agricul- 
ture at the Cirencester College, and quitted that institution in 
company witli several other professors, including the late Dr. 
Voelck(n* and Professor G. T. Brown, C.B., now head of the 
Agricultural Department of the Privy Council Office; but in 
