Early Life
He was the only son of Frank Clayton, wine merchant's assistant, and his wife, Flora, née Gilibanks. His parents had a struggle to support themselves because his father, originally a clerk, had been invalided out of the services in the First World War and could seek only outdoor work. Thoughts of emigration to Canada were thwarted by his father's early death and Clayton's mother had to make a meagre living as a dressmaker. In later years he said that in effect he had been brought up by the Boy Scouts, convincing him that he could succeed by his own efforts. Clayton won two county scholarships leading to a major scholarship at Christ's College, Cambridge, specializing in physics.
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