Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet

Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet (1745–1828)^[1] was an English barrister and diplomat, remembered as a translator.

Life

He was the son of John Clayton of Northall, Lancashire, by Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, rector of Tankersley, Yorkshire. He was nephew of Richard Clayton, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, who by his will, dated 16 March 1770, left him Adlington Hall and his manors of Adlington and Worthington, via Goodwin.^[1][2]

Clayton studied at Brasenose College, Oxford.^[3] He was a member of the Inner Temple, where he was admitted in 1762, called to the bar in 1771, and reader in 1811. Hewas created a baronet on 3 May 1774, was recorder of Wigan (1815–28), constable of Lancaster Castle, and British consul at Nantes, where he died on 29 April 1828.^[2] He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1806.^[3]

Works

Clayton published the following translations and other works:^[2]

• "On the Cretins of the Vallais", a paper in the Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 1790.
• Connubia Florum Latino carmine demonstrata; auctore D. De la Croix, notas et observationes adjecit, Bath, 1791.
• A Critical Inquiry into the Life of Alexander the Great by the Ancient Historians, translated from the French of the Baron de St. Croix, Bath, 1793; which he made additions.
• Memoirs of the House of Medici, from the French of M. Tenhove, with notes and observations, Bath, 1797, 2 vols.
• The Science of Legislation, from the Italian of Filangieri, 1806.
• A Treatise on Greyhounds, in The Pamphleteer, vol. ix. 1817.

Family

Clayton married in 1780 Ann, daughter of Charles White, an eminent surgeon of Manchester, and left an only daughter, who married Lieutenant-general Robert Browne. Lady Clayton died at Cheltenham on 23 November 1837.^[2]

Notes

1. Lloyd, Myfanwy. "Clayton, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5578. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2.  Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Clayton, Richard (d.1828)". Dictionary of National Biography 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
3. Clayton; Sir; Richard (c 1745 - 1828).

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Clayton, Richard (d.1828)". Dictionary of National Biography 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.