Henry Toole Clark was born in Tarboro, Edgecombe County on February 7, 1808. His sister, Laura, married into the prominent Cotten planter family, and he was named as Executor of John Whitaker Cotten's North Carolina Estate. He was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1850, a position he served until 1861. In 1860, he was elected as speaker of the house, giving him a position in the gubernatorial line of succession. After governor John W. Ellis died in 1861, Clark took the position, serving in the office as the Civil War started. In 1862, Clark retired to Edgecombe County where he lived out the rest of his life. He died in Tarboro on April 14, 1874.