Sir Robert Clayton
A prominent scrivener, banker, and financier who was a partner in the banking firm Clayton and Morris. By 1670 Clayton was a wealthy man, and he diversified his investment portfolio to include shares in overseas trading companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Royal African Company (RAC). He was an initial subscriber to the RAC in 1672 with an investment of £500. While not the mainstay of his wealth, Clayton did profit from his involvement with the RAC from 1672-81. Clayton was a managing director of the RAC in these years but did not regularly attend meetings of the court of assistants. However, he was highly active in public life; both in local and national politics where he was a vocal supporter of the Whig cause, and through the money and energy he devoted to philanthropic causes.
Title: Sir
First name: Robert
Middle name: /
Last name: Clayton
Aliases: /
Primary cohort: Corporate
Sex: Male
Religion: /
Social background: Professional
Primary outcome: Gentry
Political Affiliation: Whig
Relations
Martha Clayton (nee Trott)
Spouse (married 1659)
Clayton received shares in the Somers Island Company as part of dowry.
John Morris
Business Partner
Political Offices Held
Local
Sherriff of London, 1671
Local
Alderman, London, 1670-83; 1689-1707
Local
Lord Mayor of London, 1679-80
Parliament
MP for London, 1679-81 and 1681-85. Served during Exclusion crisis and was involved in most committees to investigate the Popish Plot. MP for either Bletchingley or London in every Parliament from 1689-1707
Bankruptcies
No Information
Geographic experiences
No Information
Internal migrant: Yes
Born in Bulwick, Northamptonshire and moved to London for his apprenticeship. He remained in London for the rest of his business career.
Foreign born: No
Supplier to slave trade voyages: No
Creditor to slave trade voyages: No
Philanthropy: Yes
Donations to a variety of charitable causes in London. Details in the 'Legacies' tab.
Plantation owner: Yes
75 acre plantation in Hamilton, Bermuda, bequeathed to Clayton by his father-in-law Perient Trott.
Sources: Frank T. Melton, 'Sir Robert Clayton', ODNB Melton book http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1690-1715/member/clayton-sir-robert-1629-1707 Bennett and Brot report
Other Individuals
No information
Organisations (4)
Bank of England
Role: Director
Christ's Hospital
Role: Governor
Bridewell Hospital
Role: Governor
St Thomas's Hospital
Role: President
Crossings (100)
Birth
Date: 29/09/1629
Location: Northampton (Northamptonshire)
Death
Date: 16/07/1707
Location: Bletchingley (Surrey)
Burial
Date: /
Location: Bletchingley (Surrey)
Memorial details: Monument of white marble.
Christening: /
Knighthood: 30/10/1671
Baronetcy: /
Peerage: /
Residencies
Occupation: Banker or Financier (Finance)
Clayton was apprenticed into the household of his maternal uncle Robert Abbott, a master scrivener, in Cornhill, London. In the seventeenth century some scriveners, including Abbot, began to offer banking services to their clients. During the 1640s and 1650s, Robert Abbot, and his two apprentices Robert Clayton and John Morris, ran a profitable business lending money and acting as moneybrokers for Royalist clients looking to finance the purchase of land that had been sequestered by the Parliamentary government. After Abbot’s death in 1658, Clayton and Morris assumed control over the bank, and over the course of the 1660s integrated a sophisticated form of mortgage security into their banking practice. This was an important innovation in the history of English banking practice.
Schools
No Information
Universities
No Information
Inns of Court
No Information
Military training
Colonel, City of London Militia 1677
Imperial positions
Commissioner of Customs, Board of Customs 1689-97
England
Apprenticeships
Master: Robert Abbot
Livery: The Worshipful Company of Scriveners
Start Date: /
Livery company affiliations
The Worshipful Company of Scriveners
Role: Master
Start Date: 1671
End Date: 1672
The Worshipful Company of Drapers
Role: Master
Start Date: 1680
End Date: 1681
Other business activities
Region: English Caribbean
Economic sector: Land
Owner of a 75-acre plantation in Bermuda.
Region: North America (old colonies - Virginia, New England, Massachusetts etc)
Economic sector: Commerce
Investor in the Hudson's Bay Company. Director 1676-82 and Treasurer 1678
Region: England
Economic sector: Land
Purchased the manor of Bletchingley, Surrey in 1677 and owned it until his death in 1707. Owned other manors and lands in Surrey, Norfolk, Buckinghamshire, and Kent. Owned real estate in Kennington (Lambeth), Newington (Surrey), and London.
Region: England
Economic sector: Mining
Owner of Brownsea Island in Dorset and the copperas works there
Region: Ireland
Economic sector: Mining
Owner of land in Ireland including an ironworks
Was slave trading profitable: Yes
Will
Value of Total Personalty: /
Value of Known Legacies (where material to total estate): /
Occupation: Knight and Alderman
Town/City: City of London (Middlesex)
Courts: PCC
PROB 11/495/372
Legacies
Physical Imprints
Building Category: Urban
Type: Modified
Town/City: Bletchingley (Surrey)
Scale: /
Year: 1705-07
Value: /
Memorial in the chancel of St Mary's Church, Bletchingley, Surrey. Constructed by Clayton during his lifetime.
Land
Value: /
Manor and lands in Surrey: Bletchingley, Horne, Godstone, Caterham, Marden, Worlingham, and Wollingham
Land
Value: /
Manor and lands in Norfolk
Land
Value: /
Manor of Hambledon in Buckinghamshire
Land
Value: /
Brownsea Island in Dorset along with copperas works
Land
Value: /
Manor and lands in Ireland including ironworks
Philanthropy
Type: Medical
Town/City: Ashford (Kent)
Scale: 384 acre estate
Value: £220
Manor house in Kent named Ebony Court bequeathed to St. Thomas' Hospital [Yearly rent of £220]
Philanthropy
Type: Social
Town/City: City of London (Middlesex)
Scale: /
Value: /
Bequeaths London real estate in the parish of St Giles without Cripplegate London (near a common alley called Cherry Tree Alley) to the London Corporation of the Poor.
Philanthropy
Type: Social
Town/City: Enfield (Middlesex)
Scale: /
Value: /
Life allowances to the poor people of Endfield there continued to them respectively during their Lives as my said wife used to allow them. But I would not have them filled up again after their respective deceases
Philanthropy
Type: Social
Town/City: City of London (Middlesex)
Scale: /
Value: £20
£20 be paid and distributed to and amongst the poor and most necessitous persons of the ward of Cheap in London (whereof I am Alderman) by the deputy and Comon Councill men of that ward.
Cultural Accumulation
Type: Cultural
Town/City: City of London (Middlesex)
Scale: /
Value: /
Likenesses: Statue of Clayton in the grounds of St. Thomas' Hospital; L. da Castro, oils, 1680, Bank of England, London G. Kneller, portrait, 1680, Drapers' Company, London oils, 1680, Bank of England, London R. Crutcher, statue on monument, 1705, Bletchingley church, Surrey J. Richardson, oils, 1706, Drapers' Company, London J. Richardson, portrait, St Thomas's Hospital, London J. Riley, oils, Guildhall, London
Investment
Profitable: Yes
Company: Royal African Company
Source of investment funds: Most likely the banking firm Clayton and Morris
Size of investment: 500
Date of purchase: 1672
Date of sale: 1681
Destination for profits: Clayton credited the dividends and profits arising from his investments in overseas trading companies (including the RAC) to his banking firm.
Region: England
Data source: Melton pp.