Richard Clayton (clergyman)

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.

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.

According to Richard Welford's biography of Clayton, he had distinguished himself in theology whilst at Oxford, formed decided views, acquired fixed principles, and become serious and thoughtful beyond his years.

Amiable and tolerant towards conscientious Nonconformity, he was by common consent placed at the head of religious and philanthropic movements in which Churchmen and Dissenters in the town were able to co-operate.

Having no parochial duties to engross his time, he was able to give attention and aid to unsectarian co-workers in the management of the Town Mission, Bible Society, Reformatory School, Asylum for the Blind, and kindred institutions, as well as to promote the cause of voluntary education.

Thus there gradually grew up around him a large body of friends, both within and without the Church, who followed his lead in schemes of local benevolence, and strengthened his hands in the perils of ecclesiastical controversy.

Clayton's natural disposition was averse to theological disputation; but the clear and decided views which he held upon Church questions were firmly maintained and piously exemplified.

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.