Laurence Clarkson (1615 – 1667), sometimes called Claxton, born in Preston, Lancashire, was an English theologian and accused heretic.
According to Charles William Sutton, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, "the name is written Clarkson in his earlier tracts and Claxton in the later ones.
[1] Clarkson's ideas are set out in a 1650 tract sponsored by the wealthy Leveller military man, William Rainborowe, called A Single Eye.
[5] Clarkson considered himself to be the truest of the radical religious thinkers of the period to the Protestant ideal of separating religion from money, and accused Winstanley of taking tithes.
[8] J. C. Davis, who has in general expressed considerable doubt about some of the more peculiar doctrines ascribed to the Ranters, considers Clarkson to be genuine, if alone: Though considerable controversy has followed from Davis's dismissal of the canonical account of the Ranters, that controversy has not been over the content of Clarkson's ideas, which are by and large agreed on by all parties to the debate, but merely the extent of their influence.