In 1814, Clement moved into the newspaper publishing business by purchasing The Observer, at that time a comparatively obscure Sunday paper.
Yet the paper remained dependent on government funds, with nearly half of its print run given away for free as 'specimen copies'.
He stood by Cobbett when the latter man left for the United States on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1817.
He then bought the Morning Chronicle on the death of James Perry in 1821 for £42,000, raising most of the purchase money by bills.
Under the editorship of Vincent George Dowling, Bell's Life in London became a leading sporting paper, with its circulation growing from 3,000 to over 30,000 in the first two decades of Clement's ownership.