John Richard Clayton was born in Marylebone, London, England on 30 July 1827. He began his career making sculptural models and as a designer of stained glass. He briefly studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1849. In 1855 [or 1857 - sources differ], with Alfred Bell (1832–1895), he founded Clayton & Bell., one of the leading stained glass firms in Victorian Britain. From 1863 to 1869 Clayton trained as an architect in the office of George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) in London.
In addition to his work as a stained glass designer and architect, Clayton was also a sculptor, book illustrator, painter and mosaic artist. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. Clayton was one of the artists engaged on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, London (unveiled in 1872) for which he designed mosaics. His work as an artist was influenced by his contact with members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
In the 1881 England Wales Census he gave his occupation as Artist, Painter, Sculptor, Architect, and Glass Painter. Throughout his career Clayton lived in London and died on 5 July 1913. His address at the time of his address was given as Broomfield House, 11 Fairfax Road, Hampstead, London
Clayton, Gerald W. 'John Richard Clayton: Some notes on his lesser-known works'. Journal of the British Society of Master Glass-Painters, vol. 12, no. 1, 1955-6, pp. 36-38.
Clayton, John Richard. 'On the isolation of 'professional' architecture from the other arts'. in Architecture. A Profession or an Art: Thirteen Short Essays on the Qualifications and Training of Architects. Edited by R. Norman Shaw and T. G. Jackson. London: John Murray, 1892 pp. 117-134
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
Galicki, Marta. Victorian and Edwardian stained glass : the work of five London studios, 1885-1910 : Clayton and Bell ; Heaton, Butler and Bayne ; Lavers, Barraud and Westlake ; Morris and Company ; James Powell and Sons, Whitefriars. London: Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, 1987.
Harrison, Martin. Victorian Stained Glass. London : Barrie & Jenkins, 1980
Larkworthy, Peter , Clayton and Bell, Stained Glass Artists and Decorators. London: The Ecclesiological Society, 1984
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 105, 1913 pp, 48, 50
Stained glass marks & monograms. Compiled by Joyce Little. Edited by Angela Goedicke and Margaret Washbourn. London: National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies, 2002
Waters, William. Angels & Icons: Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass 1850–1870. Abbots Morton: Serapim Press, 2012