Henry Clarke (22 June 1822 – 22 November 1907) was an Australian businessman and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Legislative Assembly. Clarke was born in

Maghera Maghera (pronounced , ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,220 in the 2011 Census, increasing from 3,711 in the 2001 Census. It is situated within Mid-Ulster Distri ...

, County Londonderry,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, he emigrated to

in 1841 and he farmed for a while at

Broulee Broulee is a town on the south coast of New South Wales between Batemans Bay and Moruya. At the , the town had a population of 1,717. Just off the beach is Broulee Island, currently joined to the mainland, but in past years the connecting spit ...

. He returned to Sydney and married Jane Rayner in 1847 and they eventually had eleven children. He and Robert Gee established a successful shipping agency and owned three ships operating between Sydney and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

by 1861. In the early 1860s, he lived for a period at Bergalia station near Moruya, but returned to Sydney in 1865 and worked at his agency until 1894.

Parliamentary career

In 1860, he contested the seat of Eden and lost to Daniel Egan. In 1869 he re-contested Eden and won. He held the seat continually until the district was abolished in 1894 and he stood unsuccessfully for Moruya in 1894. He returned to the parliament in 1895 as the member for Bega, which he held until 1904 when he was defeated by

William Wood William Wood may refer to: Politicians * William Wood (MP for Berkshire), Member of Parliament (MP) for Berkshire, 1395 * William Wood (15th century MP), MP for Winchester, 1413 * William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801–1881), British state ...

. He was

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

in the short lived second Dibbs ministry in 1889. He was noted as a hard-working parliamentarian. Clarke died in Randwick. On his eightieth birthday he had claimed to have two hundred grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. BrouleeProut1843

References

1822 births 1907 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Maghera 19th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub