CLEMENTS, Henry John (1781-1843), of Ashfield Lodge, Cootehill, co. Cavan

A nephew of Robert Clements, 1^st earl of Leitrim, Clements had sat for County Leitrim as a supporter of the government from 1805-18. His father, Henry Theophilus Clements (1734-95), had been a professional soldier who represented County Leitrim and Cavan borough in the Irish parliament from 1769-95, and by 1785 had secured government positions worth £2,400 per annum. His grandfather, Nathaniel Clements (1705-77), had been ‘one of the most prominent politicians’ in Ireland and served as Irish vice-treasurer.E. Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800 (2002), iii. 423-30; Burke’s Irish Family Records (1976), 246. His father-in-law, James Stewart (1742-1821), had been Whig MP for County Tyrone in the Irish Parliament from 1768-1800, and at Westminster, 1801-12, and although an Anglican had championed Presbyterian interests.Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament, vi. 339-42; HP Commons, 1790-1820, v. 273-4. He was, therefore, the brother-in-law of William Stewart, MP for County Tyrone, 1818-30: HP Commons, 1790-1820, v. 296; HP Commons, 1820-1832, vii. 300-1.

During his first period in Parliament Clements had voted consistently against Catholic claims and enjoyed mixed fortunes as a candidate for several ‘lucrative revenue places’. Having declined a place on the Dublin Castle staff in April 1818, he was narrowly defeated at that year’s general election.HP Commons, 1790-1820, iii. 447-8. He nevertheless continued to receive a salary of between £200 and £300 per annum as ‘Riding Master to the Castle of Dublin’: Freeman’s Journal, 26 Feb. 1841. Thereafter Clements remained an active member of the local gentry. He was colonel of the Leitrim militia, which had first been raised by his father, served for many years as foreman of the Cavan grand jury and actively pursued ribbonmen in his capacity as a magistrate.Belfast News-letter, 25 Mar. 1828; The Times, 9 Apr. 1840; Freeman’s Journal, 24 July 1841; Gent. Mag. (1843), i. 655. In 1828 he became a member of the County Leitrim Brunswick Club and in September 1834 addressed a large gathering of Orangemen at Cavan.Standard, 28 Oct. 1828; The Times, 26 Sept. 1834.

Clements’s younger brother, John Marcus Clements (1789-1833), had sat for County Leitrim as a Tory, 1820-6, 1830-2, and in August 1840 Clements was nominated by leading local Conservatives to a seat at County Cavan after the unexpected retirement of the sitting member, the Hon. Somerset Maxwell.HP Commons, 1820-1832, iv. 664-5; Examiner, 19 July 1840. After Maxwell had attested to Clements’s ‘long-tried zeal and self-denying exertions’ on behalf of the Conservative party, he was returned unopposed on the interest of Lord Farnham and reportedly delivered a ‘spirit-stirring address’.Standard, 15 Aug. 1840, quoting Dublin Evening Packet; The Times, 22 Aug. 1840. Even though some electors objected to his having been ‘marshalled’ into the seat by a ‘snug Orange’ conclave, it was admitted that ‘none among the Orange aspirants’ was better entitled to the position.Morning Chronicle, 18 Aug. 1840.

It was anticipated that Clements would return to the House as ‘a consistent supporter of every measure calculated to resist democracy on the one hand, and Popish aggression on the other’.Gent. Mag. (1843), i. 655; Standard, 12 July 1841. He voted against Joseph Brotherton’s proposal to limit the introduction of new business into the House after midnight, 27 Jan. 1841, and divided against Lord Morpeth’s Irish registration bill, 25 Feb. He backed Howick’s amendment to the measure, 26 Apr., and voted against the proposed franchise clause, 29 Apr. He divided in favour of Lord Sandon’s motion on the importation of foreign sugar, 18 May, and backed Peel’s confidence motion against the government, 4 June. He was re-elected unopposed at the 1841 general election and voted with the majority to remove the Whig ministry, 27 Aug. 1841.

Clements sat across the House from his kinsman, William Sydney Clements, who represented County Leitrim as a Whig from 1839 until he succeeded as the 3^rd earl of Leitrim in 1847.Burke’s Irish Family Records (1876), 245. He was then known as Viscount Clements, his two brothers also sitting for Leitrim between 1826 and 1852: HP Commons, 1820-1832, iv. 665-6; Stenton, Who’s Who of British MPs, i. 78-9. Clements does not appear to have served on any select committees, and remained a silent member. He paired against Lord John Russell’s motion on the corn laws, 16 Feb. 1842, and divided against the abolition of military flogging, 15 Apr.The Times, 18 Feb. 1842. He backed the first and second readings of the income tax bill, 18, 22 Apr., but appears to have voted on only 28 occasions during his second term in Parliament, and did not enter the division lobby after backing Peel on the issue of customs tariffs, 10 May 1842.

Clements died suddenly of apoplexy at his Cavan residence in January 1843. He was buried in the family vault at Ashfield Church ‘amid an immense assemblage of the gentry and yeomanry of the county’, the coffin being borne by Lord Farnham and other leading members of the gentry.The Times, 16 Jan. 1843; Freeman’s Journal, 19 Jan. 1843, quoting Dublin Evening Mail. He was succeeded by his only son, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Theophilus Clements (1820-1904), who served as high sheriff of County Cavan in 1849 and 1870.Burke’s Peerage (1864), 674. Clements’s son inherited substantial properties in counties Kildare and Leitrim following the assassination of the 3rd earl of Leitrim in 1878, and by 1883 owned 45,504 acres in five counties: Burke’s Irish Family Records, 246; J. Bateman, The Great Landowners of Great Britain (4th edn., 1883), 93. A collection of Clements’s political, estate and family papers is held in the National Library of Ireland.Papers of British Politicians, 1782-1900 (1989), 20.