Although he abandoned a medical career in the 1820s, "lost a fortune" in 1842 and "in bodily health he was never strong," he was a philanthropist who commissioned, subscribed to or supported various religious buildings and causes in his lifetime.

The following gives some indication of how Clapham as a young man could afford higher education and a Grand Tour, how he likely inherited the fortune that he then lost, and what was the cultural and ethical background which contributed to his life's work of setting up church buildings and Sunday schools.

[3] For nearly a century the Claphams were distinguished among the leading men of the borough, especially by their attachment to the principles of civil and religious liberty and the cause of education and improvement.

They were evangelical dissenters of the independent communion, and took a foremost part among the supporters of the colleges, chapels and schools of the denomination throughout Yorkshire, as well as all unsectarian associations for religious and charitable objects at home and abroad.

They were also among the leaders in the long conflict and ultimate victory on behalf of Parliamentary Reform, the abolition of the disabilities of Dissenters and Roman Catholics, [slave] emancipation &c.[3]John Peele Clapham JP (Hunslet 7 July 1801 – Ilkley 19 November 1875)[5] was born in Hunslet Lane, Leeds,[1] the son of Leeds cloth merchant William Clapham, and Martha Peele (c. 1778 – 24 June 1808).

Clapham attended Leaf Square Grammar School, a dissenting academy at Manchester, alongside his lifelong friend Edward Baines MP.

[8][9] When Mary Ann became ill in 1866, the couple moved to St Leonards-on-Sea, but came north again to the large villa of Brookside, Otley, where they both spent their last days.

"In bodily health he was never strong; but by an active life and temperate living he survived the three score and ten.

[nb 3] In 1845 his friend George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle appointed him to a position that he was to hold for life: treasurer of County Courts for Yorkshire.

[1] Clapham qualified as a Justice of the Peace for the West Riding of Yorkshire at Knaresborough, Harrogate and Otley in August 1848.

Gifted with considerable poetical powers, he brought his taste and judgment before the public in the editorship of the Leeds Sunday School Hymn Book, which has passed through many editions, and has had a very large circulation.

Between 1849 and 1859 he was living in Hanover Street, Leeds, to be nearer his place of work as county court treasurer.

[14] In 1835, Clapham and the curate from St Mary's converted the upper storey of three cottages at Post Office Yard into a non-denominational Sunday School.

[13] It closed in 1837 when a new curate, hired "at a liberal salary" by Mrs Anderton of Burley House,[16] started a rival ecumenical Sunday school in Back Lane.

The chapel, consecrated on 29 July 1840, was intended for “the special use of the congregation of Protestant Dissenters of the International Order.” The building, in the "Pointed style of the 12th century," originally had a balcony and a vestry inside.