Philip Clarke (politician)
In later life, he worked for the Irish Management Institute and as an independent business consultant Clarke was born in Long Island, New York, and moved with his family to Dublin in 1936.In October 1954, he was arrested and imprisoned after an attempted IRA raid on a British Army barracks in Omagh, County Tyrone.As Clarke was in prison at the time of his election, serving ten years for a treason felony, his opponent, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Grosvenor, lodged a petition to have him unseated.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 exercised his prerogative of mercy.[9] He had been suggested by Sinn Féin as a candidate for Dublin South West in the 1957 Irish general election, but resisted due to disagreement with party policy.