Henry Underwood

Henry Underwood
Constituency	Pilbara
Personal details
Born	31 December 1863 Mount Egerton, Victoria, Australia
Died	8 October 1945 Nedlands, Western Australia
Political party	Labor Party (1906–1917) National Labor Party (1917–1924)
Spouse(s)	Bridget Fitzpatrick
Profession	Bootmaker

Rufus Henry Underwood (31 December 1863 – 8 October 1945), better known as Henry Underwood, was an Australian politician who represented the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Pilbara from 1906 until 1924. Initially active in the Labor Party and a minister without portfolio in the Scaddan Ministry, he left the party during the conscription crisis in 1917 and thereafter represented the National Labor Party for the rest of his political career.

Underwood was born in Mount Egerton, a mining district not far from Ballarat, Victoria, to William Underwood, a splitter and farmer, and Jane (née Carter). He had very little education and worked in the country. In 1880, he was apprenticed to the bootmaking trade in Victoria, before moving to South Australia where by the mid-1880s he had become president of the Bootmaker's Union. On 27 September 1886 at St Patrick's Church in Adelaide, he married Bridget Fitzpatrick, with whom he was to have two sons.

In 1895, he relocated to Western Australia and engaged in gold mining with a share in a mine at Nullagine in the East Pilbara region, before moving to Tammin and engaging in farming. He joined the Labor Party and won the Legislative Assembly seat of Pilbara at a by-election on 23 July 1906 following the resignation of Independent member James Isdell.

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