John Clayton (minister)

Clayton was born at Wood End Farm, Clayton, near Chorley, Lancashire, 5 October 1764, the only son of George Clayton, a bleacher; he had nine elder sisters. He was educated at Leyland grammar school, and was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Boultbee, an apothecary in Manchester. At the end of four years he ran off, and made his way to the house of a married sister in London.^[1]

Clayton was taken to hear the Rev. William Romaine preach, and a religious conversion followed. Clayton was then introduced to the Countess of Huntingdon, and sent by her to Trevecca College. He became a popular preacher, and was sent to take charge of a chapel at Tunbridge Wells. He also preached frequently in London. In 1777 he sought episcopal ordination, but difficulties arose, and reading Michaijah Towgood's Letters on Dissent made him a nonconformist; the Countess rebuked him in a long letter.^[1]

Sir Harry Trelawny, 7th Baronet, minister of a Presbyterian congregation at West Looe in Cornwall, took Clayton on as assistant. Clayton's Calvinism soon led to a break, and he accepted an invitation to succeed the Rev. Samuel Wilton, D.D., as pastor of the Weigh-house Chapel in London; and he was ordained there 25 November 1778.^[1]

In 1793 Clayton was appointed one of the preachers at the merchants' lecture. He held similar posts at Fetter Lane, Holborn, and Hare Court, Aldersgate.^[1]

About 1820 Clayton bought a small estate at Gaines in Essex, and in 1826 he resigned the charge of the Weigh-house, after a pastorate of 48 years. His wife died 11 January 1836, and he died 22 September 1843. He is buried in Bunhill Fields.^[1]

Clayton published:^[1]

• The Snares of Prosperity, with an Essay upon Visiting, London, 1789.
• The Duty of Christians to Magistrates, London, 1791, a sermon which led to a controversy, and provoked Robert Hall's Christianity consistent with a Love of Freedom. The context was the Birmingham Riots of 1791, and Clayton was generally criticised by dissenters for neglecting civil rights.^[2]
• The great Mercies of the Lord bestowed upon Britain, London, 1802.
• The Antidote of Fear; a Sermon, London, 1804.
• A Counter Statement relative to a late Withdrawment from a Dissenting Independent Church, London, 1804. This referred to one of his flock who had a taste for the theatre, and sometimes travelled on Sunday. The Rev. Richard Cecil is reported to have said: "Clayton, I have long respected you, but I have never before envied you. I own I do now envy you, because I hear that you have applied the discipline of the church to a man that rides in his coach."