Thomas M. Clark

Thomas March Clark (July 4, 1812 – September 7, 1903) was an American Episcopal prelate who served as Bishop of Rhode Island between 1854–1903 and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church between 1899 and 1903.

Life and career

Thomas March Clark was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts on July 4, 1812. He graduated at Yale College in 1831, studied theology at Princeton, and was licensed to preach as a Presbyterian in 1835. He became an Episcopalian in the following year, and was rector of Grace Church, Boston, for seven years, afterward holding charges in Philadelphia, Hartford, and Providence. In 1854 he was consecrated Bishop of Rhode Island, and in 1899, on the death of Bishop John Williams of Connecticut, became Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. His Reminiscences appeared in 1895; among his other works are Early Discipline and Culture (1852), and Primary Truths of Religion (1869).

He died in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 7, 1903, at age 91.

His mother's family was related to the Puritan clergyman John Wheelwright.

His brother Rufus Wheelwright Clark was also a minister and author; another brother, Rev Dr Samuel Adam Clark, was also a minister.