Robert Clayton (City of London MP)

British merchant banker and politician

The Rt. Hon. SirRobert Clayton
Robert Clayton by Laureys a Castro

Lord Mayor of London
In office 1679–1680
Preceded by	James Edwards (Lord Mayor)
Succeeded by	Patience Ward

Personal details
Born	1629 (1629) Northamptonshire
Died	1707 (aged 77–78)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Banker, politician

Sir Robert Clayton (1629–1707) was an English merchant banker, politician and Lord Mayor of London.

Life

Robert Clayton was born in Northamptonshire, England. He became an apprentice to his uncle, a London scrivener, where he met a fellow apprentice, Alderman John Morris. They became successful businessmen and established the bank, Clayton & Morris Co.

Clayton entered politics, representing London and Bletchingley alternately as a Whig between 1679 and his death in 1707. He was knighted in 1671. Clayton made a considerable fortune. In 1697 he lent the king £30,000 to pay for the army. In the mid-1650s Clayton purchased Brownsea Island and its castle.

He was president of the St Thomas' Hospital in London which was then located in the Borough. He employed Thomas Cartwright to rebuild the hospital and St Thomas Church nearby.

Robert Clayton was a member of the Scriveners and Drapers Company, an Alderman of Cheap Ward in the City of London (1670–1683), a Sheriff in 1671, Lord Mayor of London (1679–1680), a member of parliament for the City of London or Bletchingley for most of the years 1679 to 1707, Colonel of the Orange Regiment, London Trained Bands (various times, 1680–1702), President of the Honourable Artillery Company (1690–1703), Commissioner of the Customs (1689–1697), an Assistant to the Royal African Company (1672–1681) and a director of the Bank of England (1702–1707).

In the 1690s, Clayton was the head of the earliest known Freemason lodge entirely made-up of non-working masons in London.

Links to slavery

As a member of the Court of Assistants to the Royal African Company, Clayton was essentially on the board of directors. The Royal African Company shipped more African slaves to the Americas than any other institution in the history of the Atlantic slave trade. Clayton married Martha Trott, who was the daughter of a Bermuda merchant, and also acted as Factor in Bermuda.

Legacy

The tomb of Sir Robert and Lady Clayton is in St Mary's church, Bletchingley.

A statue of Clayton stood at the North Entrance to Ward Block of North Wing at St Thomas' Hospital and is Grade I listed. On 11 June 2020, a joint statement from the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust announced that Clayton's statue, together with that of Thomas Guy, would be removed from public view.

References

^ Courtney 1887.
Jacob 2006.
College, Jesus. "Legacy of Slavery Working Party recommendations". Jesus College University of Cambridge. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
Dresser, M. (1 January 2007). "Set in Stone? Statues and Slavery in London". History Workshop Journal. 64 (1): 162–199. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbm032. ISSN 1363-3554. S2CID 194951026.
"Joint statement about Thomas Guy and Robert Clayton statues". Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 24 June 2020.

Sources

Courtney, William Prideaux (1887). "Clayton, Robert (1629-1707)" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Robert Clayton information from AIM25.
Catalogue record for the papers of Clayton and Morris Co. at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.
Melton, F. C., Sir Robert Clayton and the Origins of English Deposit Banking, 1658–1685, Cambridge, 1986.

Dr. J.P. Dickson. MA., MB., BChir.(Cantab). St. Thomas's staff 1955. Personal reminiscence.

Jacob, Margaret C. (2006). The Radical Enlightenment : Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans. Lafayette, LA: Cornerstone Book. OCLC 1285756202.

External links

"Archival material relating to Robert Clayton". UK National Archives.
Clayton Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Parliament of England
Preceded bySir John Frederick William Love Sir William Thompson John Jones	Member of Parliament for City of London 1679–1681 With: William Love Sir Thomas Player Thomas Pilkington	Succeeded bySir John Moore Sir William Prichard Sir Samuel Dashwood Sir Peter Rich
Preceded bySir John Moore Sir William Prichard Sir Samuel Dashwood Sir Peter Rich	Member of Parliament for City of London 1689–1690 With: Sir Patience Ward William Love Thomas Pilkington	Succeeded bySir William Prichard Sir Samuel Dashwood William Turner Sir Thomas Vernon
Preceded byThomas Howard Jeffrey Amherst (MP)	Member of Parliament for Bletchingley 1690–1695 With: Thomas Howard	Succeeded byThomas Howard Maurice Thompson
Preceded bySir John Fleet Sir Samuel Dashwood Sir Thomas Vernon Sir William Prichard	Member of Parliament for City of London 1695–1698 With: Sir John Fleet Sir William Ashhurst Thomas Papillon	Succeeded bySir William Ashhurst Sir John Fleet Sir James Houblon Thomas Papillon
Preceded byThomas Howard Maurice Thompson	Member of Parliament for Bletchingley 1698–1701 With: Hugh Hare	Succeeded bySir Edward Gresham, Bt John Ward
Preceded bySir William Ashhurst Sir John Fleet Sir James Houblon Thomas Papillon	Member of Parliament for City of London 1701–1702 With: Sir William Ashhurst to 1702 Sir William Withers to November 1701 Sir Gilbert Heathcote to February 1701 Sir John Fleet March–November 1701 Sir Thomas Abney from November 1701 Sir Gilbert Heathcote from November 1701	Succeeded bySir William Prichard Sir Gilbert Heathcote Sir John Fleet Sir Francis Child
Preceded byJohn Ward John Evelyn	Member of Parliament for Bletchingley 1702–1705 With: John Ward	Succeeded byJohn Ward George Evelyn
Preceded bySir William Prichard Sir Gilbert Heathcote Sir John Fleet Sir Francis Child	Member of Parliament for City of London 1705–1707 With: Sir Gilbert Heathcote Samuel Shepheard Sir William Ashhurst	Succeeded bySir William Withers Samuel Shepheard Sir William Ashhurst Sir Gilbert Heathcote

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