ward. It was reported during the 1865 municipal election campaign that "the district resounded with the noise of vehicles placarded with Mr Clapham's name, and hints of his claims to the support of the working classes." He recorded a majority of 88 (641–553) over his opponent, John Brown Heeles. Clapham's popularity endured to the next election of 1868, when he beat John Bailiffe (236) and Heeles (60) with 661 votes, a 425 majority. As part of his re-election strategy, he "engaged all the dwelling-houses in some streets as his committee rooms". While on the council in 1870, Clapham unsuccessfully stood for a position on the fifteen-member Leeds School Board, coming 27th in the list of candidates. At a council meeting in August 1871, two months before the next election, Clapham resigned his office of councillor for the North ward. Later life Once the Royal Park had been put up for sale in 1871, Clapham remained as its manager for a time (a period in which he got into more legal trouble for allowing betting on games of knurr and spell on the property), and then moved to London; he became the general manager of the Royal Surrey Gardens, but was bankrupted due to debts there too, and in 1877 this site was also sold for building development. After this, he worked as an estate agent, and ultimately retired to Hull with his young third wife, where he died in 1895, aged 78. References 1817 births 1895 deaths Businesspeople from Leeds Councillors in Leeds People from Keighley 19th-century English businesspeople