[1] John Clayton was born on 24 August 1848 in Liverpool.

He made his international debut on 27 March 1871 at Edinburgh in the first international match and first meeting between Scotland and England match.

Clayton worked as a cotton broker, based in Liverpool.

He was active in other sports outside of rugby and was known to have been a keen shooter and golfer, and also captained the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

[1] This English rugby union biography is a stub.