Well-known Barbadian attorney at law and social and political activist Robert “Bobby” Clarke has died at the age of 90. He is said to have been suffering from an illness and recently took a turn for the worse.
Mr. Clarke, an ardent Pan-Africanist, was educated at Wesley Hall Boys’ School, Combermere School, and the Sir George William University in Montreal where he studied Economics and Politics for two years. He then transferred to Middle Temple in London.
Mr. Clarke returned to the Caribbean in 1965 and practiced in Dominica. He practiced criminal law and also championed many causes.
Mr. Clarke’s political involvement began in Dominica and continued when he moved to Barbados where he became active in the People’s Progressive Movement. The movement folded in 1970 but Mr. Clarke continued his activism.
He was a co-founder of the Pan African Movement in Barbados and also formed the Barbados Industrial General Workers Union in 1980. In 2008, Clarke unsuccessfully contested the St. Michael West Central seat for the Peoples’ Empowerment Party (PEP).
