Philip Christopher Clarke (15 April 1933 – 6 July 1995) was an Irish business consultant and competitive cyclist, who had been an

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

member in the 1950s. As a cyclist, he competed in the first two

Rás Tailteann Rás Tailteann (; "Tailteann Race"), often shortened to the Rás, is an annual international cycling stage race, held in Ireland. Traditionally held in May, the race returned after a hiatus in 2022 as 5 day event held in June. By naming the rac ...

races, and represented Ireland internationally. In 1954 he was imprisoned after an IRA raid on a British Army barracks in Northern Ireland, and the following year he was elected to the British parliament as the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone; as he was imprisoned, his election was overturned on petition. He was released from prison in 1958, after which he broke his ties with the IRA. In later life, he worked for the

Irish Management Institute The Irish Management Institute (IMI) is an educational institute in Dublin, Ireland that offers postgraduate diplomas, master's degrees, executive education programs and short courses in Business and Management. In its role as a membership org ...

and as an independent business consultant

Early life

Clarke was born in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and moved with his family to Dublin in 1936. He joined the Irish civil service in 1950, and joined the

shortly afterwards. In October 1954, he was arrested and imprisoned after an attempted IRA raid on a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

barracks in

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

Sporting career

Clarke was a member of the James' Gate Cycling Club, a Dublin club affiliated to the nationalist-leaning

National Cycling Association The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicycl ...

. (At the time, Irish cycling was split between the NCA, which asserted its right to represent all of Ireland, and the Cumann Rothaiochta na hÉireann, which limited its scope to the Republic of Ireland.) He represented Ireland internationally, though due to the lack of international recognition of the NCA, his opportunities here were limited."Phil Clarke - An Appreciation". ''Fermanagh Herald'', 23 August 1995 He competed in the

races in 1953 and 1954. During his imprisonment, in 1955–58, he was acknowledged as competitor #1 "who will not be riding". In 1953, he and his friend Colm Christle had cycled through France and Switzerland to Italy to watch the UCI Road World Championship, and in later years he visited Europe every year to see the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

or another major race.

Political career

In the

1955 UK General Election The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election in 1951. It was a snap election: after Winston Churchill retired in April 1955, Anthony Eden took over and immediately ca ...

, Clarke was elected MP for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency, winning 30,529 votes, and becoming the youngest MP at the time. As Clarke was in prison at the time of his election, serving ten years for a

treason felony The Treason Felony Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Parts of the Act are still in force. It is a law which protects the King and the Crown. The offences in the Act w ...

, his opponent, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Grosvenor, lodged a petition to have him unseated. The case appeared before the Northern Ireland High Court in August 1955. On 2 September, the court ruled that Clarke was ineligible for election and his Unionist opponent was declared duly elected.

Subsequent life

When the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland issued an explicit condemnation of IRA violence in January 1956, Clarke severed his connections with the IRA. He petitioned for remission of his sentence in 1958, and was released from jail on 18 December 1958 after the Governor of Northern Ireland

Lord Wakehurst Baron Wakehurst, of Ardingly in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 29 June 1934 for the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician Gerald Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst, Gerald Loder, fift ...

exercised his prerogative of mercy. He had been suggested by Sinn Féin as a candidate for Dublin South West in the

1957 Irish general election The 1957 Irish general election to the 16th Dáil was held on Tuesday, 5 March, following a dissolution of the 15th Dáil on 12 February by President Seán T. O'Kelly on the request of Taoiseach John A. Costello on 4 February. It was the longe ...

, but resisted due to disagreement with party policy. He rejoined the Civil Service, and later took up a post as a lecturer at the

. He married in April 1960. At the Irish Management Institute, he rose to become an executive director, but fell out with the Institute after a change of policy in the 1970s. He left to form his own business consulting firm, specialising in

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

and

gain sharing Profit sharing is various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies thes ...

. Clarke died in Dublin on 6 July 1995.Death notice published in the ''Irish Times'', 8 July 1995

References

"50 Years Ago"
''

Saoirse Irish Freedom ''Saoirse Irish Freedom'' is the monthly organ of Republican Sinn Féin (RSF). It replaced '' Republican Bulletin'' the first issue of which appeared in November, 1986 to explain the reasons for the split in Sinn Féin. Its format was eight ...

'', p9, September 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Philip 1933 births 1995 deaths British politicians convicted of crimes Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (since 1950) UK MPs 1955–1959 Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921)

Early life

Sporting career

Political career

Subsequent life

See also

References