William Henry Clark

{{Short description|British diplomat (1876–1952)}} {{For|the South Australian brewer|W. H. Clark (brewer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Multiple issues| {{More sources|date=February 2025}} {{Inline|date=February 2025}} }} thumb|Clark in 1934

'''Sir William Henry Clark''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|GCMG|KCSI}} (4 January 1876 – 22 November 1952) was a British civil servant and diplomat. He was the first British High Commissioner to Canada 1928–1934.

==Early life== Clark was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. His father was John Willis Clark.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clark, Sir William Henry, 1876-1952 (Knight and colonial administrator) {{!}} ArchiveSearch |url=https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/agents/people/7012 |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Whiting Society of Ringers - Clark - History of the Peal of Bells Belonging to King's College, Cambridge |url=https://www.whitingsociety.org.uk/old-ringing-books/clark-bells-kings-college-cambridge.html |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=www.whitingsociety.org.uk}}</ref>

==Diplomatic career== Clark began his career as a clerk at the Board of Trade in 1899. He was Secretary to the Special Mission to Shanghai to negotiate a Commercial Treaty with China in 1901,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clark, Sir William Henry (1876–1952), civil servant and diplomat |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32421 |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32421}}</ref> went on to become acting 2nd secretary in Diplomatic Service in February 1902,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27411 |date=28 February 1902 |page=1281 }}</ref> and was secretary to Royal Commission on Supply of Food, etc., in Time of War, 1903-1905. He was private secretary at Board of Trade to David Lloyd George, 1906; to Winston Churchill,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Unknown Lloyd George: A Statesman in Conflict 9780755621415, 9781780764856 |url=https://dokumen.pub/the-unknown-lloyd-george-a-statesman-in-conflict-9780755621415-9781780764856.html |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=dokumen.pub |language=en}}</ref> 1908; and again to Lloyd George as Chancellor of Exchequer, 1908–1910. Clark was also the Member for Commerce and Industry of the Council of the Viceroy of India, 1910–1916; Comptroller-General, Commercial Intelligence Department of Board of Trade, 1916–1917; Comptroller-General of Department of Overseas Trade, 1917–1928.

Clark was the first High Commissioner of HM Government to Canada from 1928 until 1934{{cn|date=May 2025}}, during which time he acquired and lived in Earnscliffe manor, the former home of the first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Earnscliffe - American Aristocracy |url=https://americanaristocracy.com/houses/earnscliffe |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=americanaristocracy.com}}</ref> From 1934 to 1939 he was British High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Swaziland, and the Union of South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bechuanaland Colonial Administrators |url=https://www.thuto.org/ubh/bw/colad/coloff.htm |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=www.thuto.org}}</ref> He retired in 1940.

He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Lady Clark, née Anne Monsell (22 February 1880 – 11 November 1946), former wife of W. Bennett Pike.<ref>A Cambridge Necropolis by Dr. Mark Goldie, 2000</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611022337/http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/handlists/Clark/Clark.html Entry at British Library of Political and Economic Science] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061113074947/http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=531&FT=yes Full text of 1929 speech to the Empire Club of Canada] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110615162516/http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/index.php?html=/mss/newaids/BC81.HTM&msscollid=521 Entry at Manuscripts and Archive of the University of Cape Town]

==External links== * {{Find a Grave|97076850}}

{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef | before=Herbert Stanley}} {{s-ttl | title=British High Commissioner to <br /> South Africa | years=1935–1939}} {{s-aft | after=Edward Harding}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, William Henry}} Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Canada Category:Ambassadors and high commissioners of the United Kingdom to South Africa Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:1876 births Category:1952 deaths Category:Members of the Council of the Governor General of India