Clifford Cady Ireland was born on February 14, 1878 in Washburn, Illinois. He also lived in Peoria and  Chicago, Illinois.

His father, Frank N., served with Co. C, 77th Illinois Infantry. He enlisted on August 21, 1862 as a private and was discharged due to a illness on January 20, 1863. He was a Comrade in the Joseph Woodruff Post No. 11.

Clifford was a member of the William A. Thrush Camp No. 25, Peoria and was Illinois' Division Commander in 1916. At the 1922 National Encampment, as the Chairman of the Organization Committee, he lead the School of Instruction, which provided methods for successfully running Divisions, with Division Commanders, Division Sectaries, and Delegates attending.

He attended Cheltenham Military Academy, Knox College, University of Wisconsin (1901), and  Illinois College of Law (1908).

Clifford served as a private in the Illinois National Guard during the Spanish-American War.

He was a Cashier at a bank and after being admitted to the bar in 1909 and commenced practice in Peoria, Illinois. He also had an insurance brokerage business.

Politically, he was a Representative of the 16th Illinois District, elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fifth, Sixty-sixth, and Sixty-seventh Congresses (1917 - 1923) and a Chairman of the Committee on Accounts. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1922 and resumed his practice of law at Peoria. He was appointed by Gov. Lennington Small to be Director of the Department of Trade and Commerce in 1923; serving until Clifford's resignation in 1926.

Clifford was active at the national level for the Shrine and was Imperial High Priest and Prophet; it was fully expected he would become Assistant Imperial Rabban in 1930 if he had lived. He was a member of the Mohammed Temple and Peoria Court of Jesters.

He married Louise A. Savage and they had a son and daughter.

Brother Ireland died on May 23, 1930 in Chicago and is buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Washburn.