{{Short description|American politician}} {{other people|Robert Henry}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Robert Lee Henry | image = HENRY, ROBERT L. HONORABLE LCCN2016857398 (cropped).jpg | caption = | state1 = [[Texas]] | term_start1 = 1905 | term_end1 = 1907 | predecessor1 = [[James Hay (politician)|James Hay]] | successor1 = [[Henry De Lamar Clayton Jr.|Henry D. Clayton Jr.]] | term_start2 = March 4, 1897 | term_end2 = March 3, 1917 | predecessor2 = [[George C. Pendleton]] | successor2 = [[Tom Connally]] | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1864|5|12}} | birth_place = [[Linden, Texas]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1931|7|9|1864|5|12}} | death_place = [[Houston]], [[Texas]] | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | office = Chairman of the [[House Rules Committee]] | office1 = Chairman of the [[House Democratic Caucus]] | office2 = Member of the<br>[[U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Texas]] | predecessor = [[John Dalzell]] | successor = [[Edward W. Pou]] | term_start = March 4, 1911 | term_end = March 3, 1917 | constituency2 = [[Texas's 7th congressional district|7th district]] (1897–1903)<br>[[Texas's 11th congressional district|11th district]] (1903–17) | 1blankname = [[Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives|Speaker]] | 1namedata = [[Champ Clark]] }}
'''Robert Lee Henry''' (May 12, 1864 – July 9, 1931) was an American lawyer and politician who served ten terms as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from [[Texas]] from 1897 to 1917.
==Early life== Robert Lee Henry was the great-great-great grandson of [[Patrick Henry]] and was born in [[Linden, Texas]] on May 12, 1864. While a child, he attended public schools and moved to Bowie County in 1878 and to McLennan County in 1895. He was graduated from [[Southwestern University]] in Georgetown, Texas in 1885. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1886 and practiced for a short time in [[Texarkana, Texas]]. He was graduated from the [[University of Texas]] at Austin in 1887.
==Political career== Henry was elected mayor of Texarkana in 1890 but resigned in 1891. He was then appointed First Assistant to the [[Attorney General of Texas]] 1891-1893 and Assistant Attorney General (1893–1896). He settled in [[Waco, Texas]] in 1895 and practiced law.
=== Congress === In 1896, he was elected as a Democrat to Congress and served ten consecutive terms from 1897 to 1917. From 1905 to 1907, Rep. Henry was Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. He was also Chairman of the House Committee on Rules, serving in that capacity from 1912 to 1917. A strong supporter of [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1912, Henry was considered a progressive Democrat.
He was not a candidate for renomination in 1916, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator.
=== Later career === He engaged in the practice of law in Waco, and again was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator in 1922 and 1928.
He moved to [[Houston, Texas]] in 1923 and resumed the practice of his profession.
== Death and burial == Robert L. Henry died in Houston, on July 9, 1931, from a self-inflicted gunshot to his head in an apparent suicide.<ref>{{cite news |title=Suicide Ends Career of R.L. Henry in Texas. Ex-Member of Congress, Long a Political Figure, Was Ill and Had Met Reverses. |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A15F83C591B728DDDA90994DF405B818FF1D3 |work=[[New York Times]] |date=July 10, 1931 |accessdate=2008-12-07 }}</ref> He was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Texarkana, Texas.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Congbio|H000516}} * {{Find a Grave|7785496|name=Robert Lee Henry|work=US Congressman |date=22 August 2003}} {{Commons category|Robert Lee Henry}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Texas | | district=7 | | district_ord=7th | | before=[[George C. Pendleton]] | after=[[Alexander W. Gregg]] | years=1897–1903 }} {{US House succession box | state=Texas | | district=11 | | district_ord=11th | | before=[[Rudolph Kleberg]] | after=[[Tom Connally]] | years=1903–1917 }} {{s-off|us}} {{succession box |title=Chairman of [[United States House Committee on Rules|House Rules Committee]] |before=[[Joseph Gurney Cannon]]<br/>Illinois |years=1911–1917 |after=[[Edward W. Pou]]<br/>North Carolina }} {{s-end}} {{US House Rules chairs}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Robert L.}} [[Category:1864 births]] [[Category:1931 suicides]] [[Category:1931 deaths]] [[Category:Mayors of places in Texas]] [[Category:Texas lawyers]] [[Category:Southwestern University alumni]] [[Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni]] [[Category:People from Texarkana, Texas]] [[Category:American politicians who died by suicide]] [[Category:Suicides by firearm in Texas]] [[Category:People from Linden, Texas]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Texas]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]