Frederic de Clercy

The Right Honourable Sir Frederic de Clercy 4th Banneret de Clercy, K.S.E., P.C.
Lord High Treasurer
In office October 5, 1933 – June 23, 1941
Monarch	Edmund IX
Personal details
Born	(1880-01-28)January 28, 1880 Callerstrand, Larkshire
Died	March 22, 1963(1963-03-22) (aged 83)
Political party	Company of Scodeliers
Spouse	Eloise de Clercy
Alma mater	University of Limmes

Sir Frederic Hurst George de Clercy, 4th Banneret de Clercy, K.S.E., P.C., (January 28, 1880 — March 22, 1963) often familiarly known as Sir Frits, was an Erbonian politician and writer who was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Great Nortend from 1935 to 1941, when he retired owing to illness. Clercy wasa member of the Company of Scodeliers and was a noted leading proponent of nationalist conservatism, both within his party, and on the public stage, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential nationalist conservatives of the 20th century.

Early life

Clercy was the second son born to Sir Guilliam de Clercy, then 2nd Banneret de Clercy, and Lady Elisabeth de Clercy, youngest daughter of the local Earl of Anerburn, Edwin Hartwis, at their country house in Callerstrand, Larkshire, near Anerburn. He attended XX School, before matriculating at the University of Limmes when he graduated in 1903 with a Master of Arts.

Career

Clercy purchased a commission within the 12th Foot Regiment of the Royal Army, The North Larkshire (Anerburn Foresters) Regiment and joined in 1904. He never saw any conflict during his twelve years in the Army, selling off his commission in 1915 when his paternal grandfather, the 2nd Banneret de Clercy, passed away.

He stood for election at the 1917 elections and was elected a Knight of Larkshire as a Scodelier with a slim majority. As a young MP, Clercy became a highly outspoken advocate for nationalist conservatism, which was then not yet an entirely formalised ideology, though it was dominant. With the help of his maternal grandfather, the Earl of Anerburn, a well-known member of the Droughers' Party, he established the cross-party Nationalist Conservative Society in 1921 to bring together like-minded persons and to formalise a general non-partisan expression of Nationalist Conservatism. In 1922, the Society published a “White Paper on Nationalist Conservatism” outlining the basic principles of the concept. This was met with a great deal of support amongst the population. Clercy made it clear that nationalist conservatism was not a party matter, and that both the Scodelier-Conservative Coalition and the Droughers' Party espoused variations on the same basic theme.

Master of the Board of Education

In the 1921 elections in the beginning of the Great Astyrian War, Clercy was re-elected with a resounding majority, and was swiftly appointed to the position of Master of the Board of Schooling. Recalling his own days as a cadet at XX School, Clercy began to raise units of cadet boys at state-run board high schools, and putting into practice his views on the education of children in nationalist and conservative values. Though these units did not receive assistance from the War Office given the exigencies of wartime, John Percival, the the War Clerk, tacitly supported Clercy's movement as a way of developing a martial spirit in the community.

Opposition King's Clerk

By the end of the War, the general formal principles of nationalist conservatism as outlined by the Society had been adopted by much of the party hierarchy. However, the Lord High Treasurer and Admiral, the Duke of Derham favoured the more aggressive “strong arm” approach which he had wielded during the War time exigencies. The Coalition subsequently lost the election in 1925, after the end of the War, to the Droughers' Party whose policies followed a more moderate tone.

Clercy was appointed Opposition King's Clerk by the new Warden of the Scodeliers, the Viscount-Baron of Lauchton. It was during this time that Clercy wrote and published his seminal book, “The Nation and the Subject”, which argued for nationalist conservative values as the necessary buffer against the forces of discord and disorder.