{{short description|British-American financier and author (1834–1923)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Henry Clews | image = Henry Clews in 1913 cropped.png | caption = Clews in 1913 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1834|8|14}} | birth_place = Staffordshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1923|1|31|1834|8|14}} | death_place = New York City, US | education = | occupation = Financier | spouse = {{marriage|Lucy Madison Worthington<br>|1874}} | children = Elsie, Henry, Jr., Robert | relatives = James Blanchard Clews (nephew) }} '''Henry Clews''' (August 14, 1834 – January 31, 1923) was a British-American financier and author. He was an economic advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Born in Staffordshire, England, he emigrated to the United States around 1850. He co-founded an investment company that became the second-largest marketer of federal bonds during the American Civil War. Later, he played a reformers role in New York City politics by organizing the "Committee of 70" which helped depose the corrupt Tweed Ring. In 1887 he wrote a well-known book titled "Fifty Years in Wall Street." He held conservative economic views and was hostile toward the labor union movement.
==Early life== Clews was born on August 14, 1834, in Staffordshire, England.<ref name="ambl">Ingham, John N. "Clews, Henry." ''Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders'', Volume 1. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1983. p. 172. Digital Scans, Google Books (Web). July 7, 2015.</ref> He was the youngest of four sons born to Elizabeth "Bessie" (née Kendrick) Clews and James Clews, a prosperous manufacturer of Staffordshire ware.<ref name="Hare1985">{{cite book |last1=Hare |first1=Peter H. |title=A Woman's Quest for Science: Portrait of Anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons |date=1985 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=9780879752743 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5TWAAAAAMAAJ |access-date=February 6, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
At age 14, while in training for the Anglican Church, Clews traveled to New York City, where he "began to perceive the possibilities that presented themselves to a young man."<ref name="Zumwalt1992"/>
==Career== After emigrating to the United States, Clews organized the firm of Stout, Clews & Mason and eventually brought his brother James Clews over from England to help him manage a branch of the brokerage firm.<ref name="Zumwalt1992"/> In 1877, he split away from Livermore, Clews, and Company and started Henry Clews & Company, a member of the New York Stock Exchange,<ref name="1877Arrest">{{cite news |title=The Arrest of Henry Clews. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1877/03/20/80639864.pdf |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 20, 1877 |page=8}}</ref><ref name="GWM1947">{{cite news |title=Marks His Half Century With Henry Clews & Co. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/04/01/96693288.pdf |access-date=February 6, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 1, 1947 |language=en |page=41 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> which made him enormously wealthy.<ref name="1886House">{{cite news |title=The Great Banking House of Henry Clews & Co. {{!}} Its Magnitude and Success. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/01/01/103092366.pdf |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 1, 1886 |page=4}}</ref> In an 1886 article in ''The New York Times'', his firm was referred to thusly:
<blockquote>They have called together a staff of assistants who for ability and character are unsurpassed, and from the senior member down to the lowest clerk they are one and all actuated by the same idea, and are untiring in their efforts to further the interest of the patrons and also that of the firm itself. The value of this co-operation on the part of employes will be readily understood when it is taken into consideration that the present business of this firm aggregates thousands of millions of dollars annually, including a general banking business and the execution of orders on the New-York Stock Exchange, New-York Produce Exchange, New-York Petroleum Exchange, and the Chicago Board of Trade, with all of which concerns this house is connected by membership, but which also necessitates the employment of a large number of brokers to aid them in their large commission business.<ref name="1886House"/></blockquote>
In politics, Clews was a Republican and organized the "Committee of 70", which deposed the corrupt ring associated with William M. Tweed in New York City. He was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln and served as an economic consultant to President Ulysses Grant.<ref name="Zumwalt1992">{{cite book |last1=Zumwalt |first1=Rosemary Lévy|author1-link=Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt |last2=Abrahams |first2=Roger D. |title=Wealth and Rebellion: Elsie Clews Parsons, Anthropologist and Folklorist |date=1992 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252019098 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=08Zyq1ljcJQC&pg=PA17 |access-date=February 6, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Clews, in regards to Grant & Ward, Grant's brokerage firm with Ferdinand Ward, was quoted as saying "It is marvelous how the idea of large profits when presented to the mind in a plausible light has the effect of stifling suspicion."<ref name="Maslin2012">{{cite news |last1=Maslin |first1=Janet |title='A Disposition to Be Rich' by Geoffrey C. Ward |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/14/books/a-disposition-to-be-rich-by-geoffrey-c-ward.html |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 13, 2012}}</ref>
Towards the end of his life Clews wrote one of the most famous classics about life on Wall Street entitled "''Fifty Years in Wall Street''".<ref>Clews, Henry. ''Fifty Years in Wall Street "Twenty-Eight Years in Wall Street," Revised and Enlarged by a Resume of the Past Twenty-Two Years, Making a Record of Fifty Years in Wall Street''. New York: Irving Pub. Co, 1908.</ref> His nephew, James Blanchard Clews (son of John Clews), succeeded as senior member of Henry Clews & Co. after the death of Clews in 1923.<ref name="Hamersly1909">{{cite book |title=Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries |date=1909 |publisher=L.R. Hamersly |page=[https://archive.org/details/menwomenofameric00newy/page/363 363] |url=https://archive.org/details/menwomenofameric00newy |access-date=December 13, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
==Personal life== thumb|right|Clews' villa "The Rocks" in Newport, Rhode Island
In 1874, Clews was married to Lexington, Kentucky born heiress Lucy Madison Worthington (1851–1945).<ref name="MrsHCObit1945">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Henry Clews is Dead Here at 93; Widow of Noted Broker Was a Founder of Colony Club-- Grandniece of Madison |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/05/20/305303052.pdf |access-date=February 6, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 20, 1945 |language=en |page=31 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Lucy, a daughter of William Hord Worthington and Anna (née Tomlinson) Worthington, was a second cousin of U.S. President James Madison<ref name="autogenerated1998">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/onceupontimeatla0000unse/page/22/mode/1up |title=Once upon a Time at La Napoule: The Memoirs of Marie Clews |edition=3rd |first=Marie |last=Clews |publisher=Editions La Mancha |isbn=9782912900074 |page=22 |date=2007 |access-date=2024-07-17 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}</ref> and American Revolutionary War brigadier general Andrew Lewis. Together, they were the parents of three children, two of whom lived to adulthood:
* Elsie Worthington Clews (1875–1941),<ref name="Zumwalt1992"/> an anthropologist who married U.S. Representative Herbert Parsons (1869–1925), a son of John Edward Parsons, in 1900.<ref name="1900Wedding">{{cite news |title= Miss Clews is Married |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-mrs-admiral-baldwin-1/103335565/ |newspaper=The New York Times |location=Newport, Massachusetts |date=1900-09-01 |publication-date=September 2, 1900 |page=5 |access-date=2024-07-17 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * Henry Clews Jr. (1876–1937), an artist who married divorced New York socialite Louise Hollingsworth (née Morris) Gebhard (1877–1936) in 1901.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry Clews Jr. Marries Mrs Louise M. Gebhard|date= November 29, 1901|newspaper= The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/11/29/102630405.pdf |page=1 |access-date=2024-07-17}}</ref> They also divorced and in 1914 he married Elsie "Marie" (née Whelan) Goelet (1880–1959), the first wife of Robert Wilson Goelet.<ref name="1914Divorce">{{cite news |title=Goelet Divorce Up To-Day. Petitions of Mrs. Robert Goelet and Mrs. Amos T. French Similar. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/03/03/101917033.pdf |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Newport, Rhode Island |page=6 |publication-date=March 3, 1914 |date=1914-03-02}}</ref><ref name="MEC1959Obit">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Henry Clews of Art Memorial; Sculptor's Widow, Who Created Foundation to Aid U.S.-French Ties, Dead ' |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/04/16/80769496.pdf |access-date=September 10, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 16, 1959 |language=en |page=33 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> They lived at the Château de la Napoule in France.<ref name="1914Wedding">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Robert Goelet Weds H. Clews, Jr. Divorcees Are Married in Her Home a Few Hours After Obtaining License. A Surprise for Friends; Bridegroom, Son of Banker, Is an Artist, and Bride Studied Painting in His Newport Studio. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/12/20/301762642.pdf |access-date=2024-07-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 20, 1914 |page=3}}</ref> * Robert Bower Clews (1878–1890), who died aged 12 of a cerebral hemorrhage.<ref name="Zumwalt1992"/>
Clews died of bronchitis in New York City, New York on January 31, 1923.<ref name="ambl" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Henry Clews Dies in His 89th Year. Notable Wall Street Figure for More Than Sixty Years Succumbs to Bronchitis |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1923-02-01_72_23749/mode/1up |quote=Henry Clews, the banker, died at his home, 27 West Fifty-first Street, yesterday after a long Illness. He had been in failing health for several months, and the direct cause of his death was chronic bronchitis. He was in his eighty-ninth year. ... |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |date=February 1, 1923 |access-date=2024-07-17 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. His widow died, at the age of 93, at her home, 15 East 69th Street in New York on May 19, 1945.<ref name="MrsHCObit1945"/>
===Descendants=== Through his son Henry, Clews was the grandfather of Henry Clews III (1903–1983); Louise Hollingsworth Morris Clews (1904–1970), who married Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll and became the Duchess of Argyll;<ref name="DuchessObit1970">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/11/archives/mrs-louise-c-timpson-dead-former-duchess-of-argyll-65.html|title=Mrs. Louise C. Timpson Dead; Former Duchess of Argyll, 65|newspaper=The New York Times |page=47 |date=February 11, 1970 |access-date=2024-07-17}}</ref> and Mancha Madison Clews (1915–2006), an electrical engineer.<ref name="MSCObit2010">{{cite news |last1=Downey |first1=Sally A. |title=Margaret Strawbridge Clews, 91, artist and businesswoman |url=https://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20100823_Margaret_Strawbridge_Clews__91__artist_and_businesswoman.html |access-date=February 6, 2019 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=August 23, 2010}}</ref>
==Published works== * Clews, Henry. ''The Wall Street Point of View'', Silver, Burdett and Company, New York, copyright, 1900. * Clews, Henry. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=s-vq6AwWQPkC Fifty Years in Wall Street]''. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons, 2006.
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{Find a Grave|90296413}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clews, Henry}} Category:1834 births Category:1923 deaths Category:American financiers Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:People from Staffordshire Category:Deaths from bronchitis Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Henry