Francis Clarke (25 March 185718 May 1939) was an Australian politician.

Early life

Clarke was born in

Stroud, New South Wales Stroud is a small country town one hour north of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Mid-Coast Council local government area. The major road through Stroud is the Bucketts Way (The) Bucketts Way is a rural road that lin ...

, the son of Thomas Clarke and Ellen Walsh. He attended

St Stanislaus' College , motto_translation = But we (Trust) in the name of the Lord , established = , type = Independent secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Roman Catholic , religious_affiliation = ...

at Bathurst before becoming a surveyor.

Political career

He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

from 1893 to 1898, winning the seat of Macleay as the

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...

candidate at the 1893 by-election, but it was abolished the following year and replaced by Hastings and Macleay which he won, holding it in 1895 and 1898. Clarke played a role in expediting the re-inclusion of

Edmund Barton Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton, (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician and judge who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903, holding office as the leader of the Protectionist Party. He resigned to ...

in the Australasian Federal Convention for the establishment of the Australian Federation. Barton was a major driver in the Federation movement but as he lost his seat in the NSW Colonial parliament he faced exclusion from the discussions. To expedite his return to the political process Clarke resigned from his safe seat of Hastings and the Macleay triggering a by-election which Barton won with Clarke's endorsement. Serving as an early alderman of the Borough of North Sydney, Clarke served a single term as mayor (1898–1899). He was later appointed a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

from 1899–1900, representing the Protectionist Party. In 1901, he was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

as the Protectionist member for Cowper. He held the seat until his defeat in 1903 by Henry Lee of the

Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...

Later life

After leaving politics he was drafted as a member of the Royal Commission on Customs and Tariffs 1904-07 and the Royal Commission on

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

railways and ports (1913–1914). On 21 December 1933 he was granted permission to retain the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

" because he had been a member of the first federal parliament. He died in Manly on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Francis Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Cowper Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 1857 births 1939 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Australian surveyors Mayors of North Sydney