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Horace Evelyn CLAYTON (1853–1916)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 4a, Grave D70

Horace Evelyn Clayton was born in Farnborough on 3 April 1853. He was the son of John Henry Clayton (born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire in 1809/10) and Jane Bunn Sheppard (born in Frome, Somerset in 1815/16). His parents were married in Frome in the second quarter of 1838 and had the following children:

• Janet Stuart Clayton (born in Farnborough in 1840 and baptised there on 1 August)
• John Ernest Clayton (born in Farnborough in 1841/2 and baptised there on 25 January 1842)
• Charles Cecil Clayton (born in Farnborough on 11 November 1843 and baptised there on 17 December)
• Reginald Byard Buchanan Clayton (born in Farnborough in 1845 and baptised there on 24 August)
• Maud Lindsay Clayton (born in Farnborough in 1847 and baptised there on 2 January 1848)
• Sidney Stuart Clayton (born in Farnborough in 1851 and baptised there on 3 June)
• Horace Evelyn Clayton junior (born in Farnborough on 3 April 1853 and baptised there on 5 May).

Horace’s father was the Rector of Farnborough from 1839 to 1862. His mother died near the end of 1858 when Horace was just five years old.

At the time of the 1861 census Horace (8) was home at the Rectory in Dog Kennel Lane, Farnborough with three of his siblings: Janet (20); Charles Cecil (17), who was an Ensign in the 34th regiment army; and Maud (13); they were looked after by five servants (a cook/housekeeper, housemaid, lady’s maid, nurse, and groom). His widower father was paying a visit with Horace’s brother Sidney (10) to his sister, who was married to the Revd David Malcolm Clerk, in Kingston Deverill Parsonage in Wiltshire.

At the time of the 1871 census Horace (17) was boarding at the Royal Free Grammar School at Marlborough. On 1 June that year he was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Brasenose College. He obtained his M.A. in 1878, and was ordained at Cuddesdon on 27 May 1877.

He served as the Chaplain of both New College and Magdalen College from 1879, and at the time of the 1881 census was lodging at 3 St John Street with the family of the retired librarian John Haines. His father John Henry Clayton (still a widower and aged 72) was staying as a visitor at the house next door, No. 2.

In 1884 Horace Clayton was appointed Vicar of St Mary Magdalen with St George the Martyr (the latter being the chapel of ease which had opened in George Street in 1850 on the site of the present cinema). In 1887 he was also appointed Fellows’ Chaplain of Magdalen College, and held both positions until his death.

At the time of the 1891 census Clayton was living on his own at 62 George Street with two servants.

By 1899 Clayton had moved into 30 Beaumont Street (right), and at the time of the 1901 census can be seen living there with two servants; the situation was exactly the same in 1911, when he was aged 58.

 

Clayton wrote a number of books between 1884 and 1902:

• To the Parishioners of St Mary Magdalene [sic], and Others Interested in Voluntary Church Schools (1884)
• The morality of the marriage law: A sermon preached before the University of Oxford, in Magdalen College Chapel (1895)
• The education bill, 1902: A paper read before the Oxford Diocesan Conference, October 2nd, 1902 (1902).

 

The first part of the funeral service was held at St Mary Magdalen Church, followed by the interment at St Sepulchre’s. Two photographs appeared in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 15 November 1916: one showing the coffin, on which was a wreath sent by the parishioners, being borne from the church; and the other the Revd J. R. Pendlebury and the Revd T. O Floyd, who conducted the service.

His effects came to £11,508 15s. 4d., and he left a bequest for an Exhibition at Brasenose College. One of his executors was John Cecil Clayton, a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps, who was probably his nephew.