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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Mr. Henry Clark

Mr. Henry Clark , J.P., Old Colonist, of Clarksville, near Milton, represented the Matau and Tokomairiro districts in the Otago Provincial Council from 1864 until the abolition of the Provinces, and is one of the best
Mr. H. Clark.

Mr. H. Clark.

known settlers of Otago. He is the third son of Mr. George Clark, and was born near Dunse, Berwickshire, Scotland, in 1821, and educated at Polwarth parish school. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter, and worked as a journeyman in Edinburgh, for five years. In 1848 he sailed from Granton Pier, near Edinburgh, in a coastal steamer to join the ship “Blundell,” lying in London Docks, to embark with other passengers, bound for New Zealand. The “Blundell” arrived at Port Chalmers in September, 1848. Mr. Clark worked at his trade as a master builder in Dunedin, until 1856, when he decided to settle in the Tokomairiro district, where he purchased a section of land now known as Clarksville. He subsequently acquired 900 acres of land beyond Glenore, which he farmed for several years, but it is now leased to tenants, and Mr. Clark lives in retirement at his beautiful homestead at Clarksville, but still takes an active interest in religious, educational, charitablo and social page 380 organizations. On the abolition of the provinces in 1875, Mr. Clark was elected a member of the Mount Stuart Riding, and also chosen the first chairman of the Bruce County Council, and held the position until 1897. He has been a member of the Otago Education and Land Boards for over twenty years; is an ox-member of the High School Board of Governors, a trustee of the Dunedin Hospital, and a member of the Otago Charitable Aid Board for Bruce County and the municipalities of Milton and Kaitangala. When Sir Robert Stout resigned his seat on the Otago University Council, Mr. Clark was appointed to the vacant position. During his residence in Edinburgh, Mr. Clark was chosen an elder of the Presbyterian Church. He was one of the first four members, and is now the only surviving member of the first Kirk Session in Dunedin, and is filling a corresponding office in connection with the Prosbyterian Church, at Milton. Mr. Clark was elected to represent the Milton Kirk Session at the Jubilee of the Otago Presbyterian Church. He was married, in 1844, to Christian, daughter of Mr. David Heron, of Dunfermline, and they have four daughters.