Robert Clayton

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

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 and representing several wards as a Whig. He was knighted in 1671. Clayton made a considerable fortune. In 1697 he lent the king £30,000 to pay for the army.

He was president of the St Thomas' Hospital in London next to the River Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament. 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 (1678–1681), Colonel of the Orange Regiment of militia (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).

[edit] References

• Robert Clayton and Clayton & Morris Co. information from AIM25.
• Clayton information from the London School of Economics.
• Melton, F. C., Sir Robert Clayton and the Origins of English Deposit Banking, 1658–1685, Cambridge, 1986.