Arthur Clayton was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England on 23 Mar 1880. He was the son of a builder and joiner and trained as an architect at Manchester School of Art and Manchester School of Technology. He also attended Macclesfield and Stockport technical schools. He subsequently practised as an architect in Manchester and for sixteen years was Architect, Surveyor and Civil Engineer to the Calico Printers' Association, Ltd., Oxford Street, Manchester. He was a Member of the Society of Architects (MSA) and was admitted a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1925 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1945.
His address was given as 13 Leigh Street Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1881; Llandrillo Denbigh in 1901; 386 Stockport Road Bredbury, Cheshire in 1911 and 1914; St James Building Oxford Street Manchester in 1914; 6, Chestergate, Macclesfield in 1923 and 1926; Duchy Chambers, Clarence Street, Manchester in 1923 and 1939; and "Sarn", Hollin Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire in 1939 and 1956. He died on 15 October 1956. His death was registered in Bucklow, Cheshire.
Housing scheme, Bollington Urban District Council, 1920; manager's house, Mather and Platt. Ltd., 1920: theatre reconstruction. Macclesfield, 1922; transport warehouse, 1922, roads garage dining room and canteen block, 1923, and administration block, 1924, at Trafford Park, Manchester, for Richard Johnson, Clapham and Morris, Ltd.; new dyehouse, etc., for Kent Silk Mills, Ltd-, 1922; additions to Silk Mills for Wm. Frost and Sons, Macclesfield, 1922; new weaving shed, engine house and reconstruction of Squire's and Hollins's Mills, Mossley, 1924; industrial garage at Collyhurst Mills, Manchester, 1924; additions to Queens Hotel Portland Street and Piccadilly, Manchester, 1934; extension to Park Green Mill Macclesfield, Cheshire, 1935; Coal Utilisation Council Showrooms, 38 Deansgate, Manchester, 1936; 200 houses in Canal Street, Castleton, Rochdale, Lancashire, 1936; Methodist Church Hall, Moss Estate, Macclesfield, Cheshire, 1937; andextension to Glover Brothers Works in Mossley, 1939.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001