Frederic de Clercy

The Right Noble and Right Honourable Frederic de Clercy 4th Banneret de Clercy, K.S.E., P.C.
Lord High Treasurer
In office October 5, 1932 – September 30, 1934
Monarch	Edmund IX
Personal details
Born	(1860-01-28)January 28, 1860 Callerstrand, Larkshire
Died	March 22, 1943(1943-03-22) (aged 83)
Political party	Company of Scodeliers
Spouse	Eloise de Clercy
Alma mater	University of Limmes

Frederic Hurst George de Clercy, Earl of Bexeness, K.S.E., P.C., (January 28, 1860 — March 22, 1943) was an Erbonian politician and writer who was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Great Nortend from 1932 to 1934, when he retired owing to illness. Clercy was a member of the Company of Scodeliers and was a noted early proponent of nationalist conservatism, both within his party, and on the public stage. He was a noted acquaintance of Sir Henry de Foide, who was named by Clercy as his preferred successor as Lord High Treasury.

Early life

Clercy was the eldest son of Guilliam de Clercy, then Baron de Bexeness, and Lady Elisabeth de Clercy, youngest daughter of the Earl of Anerburn, Edwin de Hartwis, at their country house in Callerstrand, Larkshire. He attended XX School, before matriculating at the University of Limmes from the which he graduated in 1883.

Career

Clercy purchased a commission within the 12th Foot Regiment of the Royal Army, The North Larkshire (Anerburn Foresters) Regiment and joined in 1884. He never saw any conflict during his twelve years in the Army, selling off his commission in 1896 when his paternal grandfather, George de Clercy, Earl of Bexeness, passed away.

He stood for election at the 1899 elections and was elected a Knight of Larkshire as a Scodelier with a slim majority. As an MP, Clercy became a highly outspoken advocate for nationalism, which was then not yet formalised as nationalist conservatism. With the help of his maternal grandfather, the Earl of Anerburn, a well-known peer associated with the Droughers' Party, he established the cross-party Nationalist Society in 1905 to bring together like-minded persons and to formalise a general non-partisan modern expression of nationalism. In 1906, the Society published a “White Paper on Erbonian Nationalism” outlining the basic principles of their belief. This was met with a great deal of support amongst the population. Clercy made it clear that nationalism was not a party matter, and that the Scodeliers, the Conservatives, and the Droughers' Party espoused variations on the same basic theme.

Lord Master of the Board of Education

After the 1921 elections in the beginning of the Great Astyrian War, Clercy aged 61, was appointed to the position of Lord 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 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.

Clercy also masterminded the Ladies’ University Halls Act in 1923 which established university halls, broadly equivalent to colleges, for women at the three universities of Aldesey, Limmes and Rhise. Women were „admitted”, rather than matriculated into the halls, and could study for the titles of Lady in Letters and Mistress in Letters alongside their male counterparts.

Opposition King's Clerk

Following the end of the War, the Lord High Treasurer and Admiral, the Duke of Derham continued to favour the more aggressive “strong arm” approach which he had wielded during the War time exigencies, over Clercy's moderate nationalism. 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” in 1927, which argued for nationalist conservative values as the necessary buffer against the forces of discord and disorder. He succeeds to the earldom in 1927 as well, after the death of Guilliam de Clercy, becoming Lord Frederic de Clercy-Bexeness.

Lord High Treasurer

Association with Henry de Foide in the Nationalist Society. Appointed Foide as Surveyour-General and then Senior Clerk of the Treasury.

Retirement

Named Foide as successor as Lord High Treasurer. Foide renames his Conservative Party to the National Conservative Party to signal greater continuity with Foide. Despite being replaced by Legcastle as Warden of the Scodeliers, he continued to exert influence until his death. Supported the formalising of the coalition between the Scodeliers and National Conservatives in 1940.

Death and Legacy

Foide-Clercyism remains dominant ethos of the Coalition, though each party focusses on slightly different elements.

See also

• Lord High Treasurer of Great Nortend
• Nationalist conservatism