Richard Clayton

Richard Clayton (9 March 1802 – 8 October 1856) was a British clergyman, Master of the Mary Magdalene Hospital and chaplain to the Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Newcastle upon Tyne from 1826 until his death.

Early life Richard Clayton was born 9 March 1802 in Newcastle. He was a son of Dorothy (née Atkinson) and Nathaniel Clayton, a wealthy solicitor, owner of the Chesters estate and Town Clerk of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1785 to 1822. His maternal grandmother was Bridget Atkinson. He was educated at Percy Street Academy in Newcastle, then at Harrow School. He matriculated at University College, Oxford in 1820, graduating B.A. in 1823 and M.A. in 1826.

Clayton, aged 24, was in 1826 appointed Master of the Mary Magdalene Hospital — a Newcastle charity — and chaplain to the Church of St Thomas the Martyr, a position linked to the charity. The linked position was in the gift of the Newcastle city authorities, and was generally given to members of well-known Newcastle families; Wasney was a pupil of Milner at Hull Grammar School, and went on to Clare College, Cambridge in 1791, associating with followers of Charles Simeon, and graduating B.A. in 1795. He was ordained priest in 1796, to Waghen, but soon went as curate to James Stillingfleet at Hotham. He then moved to St Thomas's Chapel, Newcastle, in 1808.

Clayton was influenced by Wasney, and adopted Simeonite evangelical views.

Religious leader Assisted by the influence of his brother John, Clayton entered a scheme for the reconstruction of the St Thomas chapel, and in May, 1828, the erection of St. Thomas's Church, Barras Bridge, to a design of John Dobson, was formally begun; in October 1829 John Clayton laid the corner-stone, and a year later the edifice was consecrated and opened for public worship.

Aftermath

The majority of Clayton's congregation were driven from St. Thomas's by the appointment of a high church Master, Clement Moody. They erected a new church building in Jesmond Road, originally called "The Clayton Memorial" and now known as Jesmond Parish Church. Over the church's vestry door is the inscription: "This church, consecrated to the Glory of God, 14th January, 1861, was erected to the memory of the Rev. Richard Clayton, M.A., who was for 30 years Master of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, and the faithful minister of St. Thomas's Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He died 8th October, 1856, aged 54 years."

Works Two at least of Clayton's sermons were published. One of them preached at St. Thomas's, 27 June 1841, is entitled, Dissuasives from Frequenting the Race Course; the other, delivered in the same place on 8 September 1842, was Oratorios Unsuited to the House of Prayer, and Inconsistent with a Christian Profession.