Sir Percy Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke (1893-1976) was educated at Bedales School, at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School, and at London University. During the First World War, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served as a Medical Officer, first in charge of the 285th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and later in charge of the Queen Victoria Rifles. It was at this time that he changed his name by deed poll (from Clarke) to Selwyn-Clarke.

He joined the Colonial Medical Service after the war and was posted to the Gold Coast (Ghana). There, he served successively as Medical Officer of Health, 1919-1923, Senior Health Officer, 1924-1928, and Assistant Director of Health, 1929. In 1930, he was posted to Malaya (Malaysia) as Chief Health Officer. In 1932, he returned to the Gold Coast (Ghana) as Assistant Director of Medical Services as well as Director of the Gold Coast Central Council Branch of the British Red Cross Society. In 1933, he was promoted to Deputy Director of the Gold Coast Health Service. After three years, he moved to Nigeria, where he held the same post.

In 1937, he became Director of Medical Services in Hong Kong, where he was later imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese during the Second World War. After leaving Hong Kong, he was made Governor of the Seychelles, where he remained for three years until his retirement in 1951. After his retirement, he remained actively involved in the field of medicine, becoming Principal Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health, 1951-1956, and Medical Secretary to the Society of Medical Officers of Health, 1956-1961. He was in charge of the medical care of the King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery, 1962-1969, and in 1969 he became a prison visitor. He was awarded the CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George) and KBE (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

In 1935, he married Hilda Browning, with whom he had one daughter. His memoirs were published in 1975 under the title Footprints.