Sir Robert Clayton (1629–1707) was an English

merchant banker A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

, politician and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

Life

Robert Clayton was born in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, England. He became an apprentice to his uncle, a London

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

, where he met a fellow apprentice,

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

John Morris. They became successful businessmen and established the bank, Clayton & Morris Co. Clayton entered politics, representing

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gre ...

alternately as a Whig between 1679 and his death in 1707. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed 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 Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust with the northern half managed by the Do ...

and its castl\jje. He was president of the

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...

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 A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written ma ...

and

Drapers Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

Company, an

of Cheap Ward in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

(1670–1683), a

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

in 1671, Lord Mayor of London (1679–1680), a member of parliament for the

for most of the years 1679 to 1707,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of the Orange Regiment, London Trained Bands (various times, 1680–1702), President of the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

(1690–1703), Commissioner of the Customs (1689–1697), an Assistant to the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Eng ...

(1672–1681) and a director of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

(1702–1707). In the 1690s, Clayton was the head of the earliest known

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

lodge entirely made-up of non-working masons in London.

Links to slavery

As a member of the Court of Assistants to the

, 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 The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

. 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,

. 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 Thomas Guy (1644 – 27 December 1724) was an English merchant and politician who is best known for founding Guy's Hospital in London. Early life Thomas Guy was born in Horselydown in Southwark, in south London, the eldest child of a lighterm ...

, would be removed from public view.

References

Sources

*
Robert Clayton
information fro
AIM25

Catalogue record for the papers of Clayton and Morris Co.
at th

of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. * 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. *

External links

* * Clayton Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Robert 1629 births 1707 deaths People from Northamptonshire Bankers from London Knights Bachelor Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London Merchants from London Sheriffs of the City of London 17th-century lord mayors of London London Trained Bands officers Date of death unknown Place of death unknown 17th-century English merchants Date of birth unknown English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 17th-century English slave traders 18th-century English slave traders