Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
In c 1638 Robert Abbott (c 1610-1658) set up as a scrivener in Cornhill. During the 1640s he took on two apprentices, his nephew Robert Clayton (1629- 1707), and an adoptive nephew of a baker in Abingdon, John Morris (c 1627-1682). When Abbott died in 1658 the business was taken over by Clayton and Morris, whose partnership lasted until Morris's death in 1682.
The business of the partnership spanned the development of the brokerage business from the money-scrivening of Abbott's original business to the early form of deposit banking which the Clayton and Morris partnership practised in the later 17th century. The other activities of the partnership included conveyancing, land valuation and estate management.
Clayton became a citizen and scrivener (afterwards draper) and was alderman successively of Cordwainer and Cheap wards from 1670, sheriff 1671-1672 and Lord Mayor 1679-1680. He was knighted in 1671. Morris became a scrivener and was alderman of Cheap ward in 1669 and MP for Bletchingley 1679-1682.