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Robert Clayton was born in 1629, the son of "a poor man of no family". Working firstly as a land agent and subsequently as a banker, he made a large fortune such that, by the 1670s, the diarist John Evelyn, described him as "this prince of citizens, there never having been any, who, for the stateliness of his palace, prodigious feasting, and magnificence, exceeded him". Clayton became an M.P., served on innumerable parliamentary committees and in 1692 was made President of St Thomas' Hospital, an office he held until his death in 1707.The origin of St Thomas' Hospital was the sick house attached to the Church of St Mary Overie in Southwark, founded in the 12th century. By the late 17th century, the hospital was in a dilapidated state and Clayton employed the architect, and St Thomas' governor, Thomas Cartwright to undertake complete rebuilding. The new buildings, of red brick and in a classical style were completed just after Clayton's death, in 1709. The statue was commissioned at some time around this date, to commemorate Clayton's contribution to the hospital. Dates for the actual construction vary; Pevsner gives 1701–1702, which is supported by the Survey of London. Historic England's listing designation gives a slightly later date of 1714, supported by an inscription on the statue's plinth. The commission for the statue was awarded to Grinling Gibbons. Gibbons was paid £50 "to cutt the said Statue in the best Statue Marble by Christmas next" and a further £150 "as soon as the Work is finished".Following the complete reconstruction of the hospital in 1872, on a site further up the River Thames at Lambeth, the statue was moved to its present position. The work was listed at Grade I, the highest grading given to buildings and structures of "exceptional interest", in 1979.
Survey of London classical Southwark Thomas Cartwright M.P. parliamentary listed at Grade I listing designation land agent Pevsner St Thomas' Hospital Church of St Mary Overie John Evelyn London Historic England Marble River Thames Grinling Gibbons Lambeth