Henry Joseph Clarke

Who was Henry Joseph Clarke?

Henry Joseph Clarke, who sometimes used the middle names Hynes and O'Connell, was a lawyer and politician in Manitoba, Canada.

Born in Donegal on July 7, 1833, Clarke moved with his family to Canada at age three. He practised law in Montreal before moving to California during the "gold rush" of 1858, and also lived in El Salvador for a period in the early 1860s. He returned to Montreal after this time, and developed a strong reputation as a criminal lawyer.

Clarke ran for Province of Canada's parliament as a Liberal-Conservative in the 1863 election, losing to Liberal finance minister Luther Hamilton Holton in the riding of Chateauguay. In 1867, he wrote a short biography of fellow Irish Catholic politician Thomas D'Arcy McGee.

On the advice of George-Étienne Cartier and Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Clarke moved to Manitoba in 1870 to assist in the establishment of a provincial government. He was elected by acclamation for the constituency of St. Charles in Manitoba's first general election, held on December 27, 1870. He was then appointed as the province's first Attorney General on January 3, 1871. In this capacity, he took a leading role in establishing the province's legal system.