Andrew Inglis Clark

Andrew Inglis Clark (24 February 1848–14 November 1907) was an Australian politician. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, five years before the end of convict transportation to Tasmania. He became a mechanical engineer, then later studied law, being admitted to the Tasmanian Bar in January 1877. In 1878 he married Grace Paterson, daughter of John Ross, a Hobart shipbuilder.

In 1878 he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly, becoming Attorney General in 1887. It was after a visit to the United States in 1890 that Andrew Inglis Clark became a committed 'republican' which subsequently led to his passionate involvement in the process of the federation of Australia. At the constitutional convention of 1891, Clark was the leading authority on constitutional development in the United States.

In 1896, after several failed attempts he was able to get a system of proportional representation adopted by the Tasmanian Parliament:- see Single Transferable Vote. Clark, never in robust health, in fact described as "small, spare and nervous" by Alfred Deakin, died in 1907. He is buried in the old Queenborough Cemetery at Sandy Bay.

External links

* [http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogCl-Cu.html#clark1 Dictionary of Australian Biography]
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030378b.html#clark2 Australian Dictionary of Biography online]