Philip Clayton was born in
Maryborough, Queensland,
Australia, to English parents who brought him back to England when he was two years old. His father, sugar plantation manager Reginald Byard Buchanan Clayton (1845–1927) and his mother Isabel Byard Sheppard (1848–1919) were first cousins, through both of whom he descended from
George Sheppard, a clothier in
Frome. He was educated at
St Paul's School in
London and at
Exeter College,
Oxford, where he obtained a First in Theology. After ordination as a priest of the
Church of England, Clayton served as curate under
Cyril Forster Garbett at
St Mary's Church, Portsea, from 1910 to 1915. He then became an
army chaplain in
France and
Flanders where, in 1915, he and another chaplain
Neville Talbot opened "
Talbot House", a rest house for soldiers at
Poperinge,
Belgium. It became known as Toc H, this being signal terminology for "T H" or "Talbot House". It closed temporarily in 1918 when the German front had drawn too close. The spirit of friendship fostered at Toc H across social and denominational boundaries inspired Clayton,
Dick Sheppard, and
Alexander Paterson to set out in 1920 what became known as the
Four points of the Toc H compass: • Friendship ("To love widely") • Service ("To build bravely") • Fair-mindedness ("To think fairly") • The Kingdom of God ("To witness humbly") This followed the foundation of a new Toc H House in Kensington in 1919, followed by others in London, Manchester, and Southampton. The Toc H movement continued to grow in numbers and established, also, a women's league. In 1930, Clayton led Toc H into creative support of the
British Empire Leprosy Relief Association. 1962, Clayton was Vicar of
All Hallows-by-the-Tower in the
City of London. While working in the area, he helped to devise the Tower Hill Improvement Scheme (with
Lord Wakefield of Hythe), His work also brought him into contact with the
East End of London and its frequently harsh and impoverished conditions. Two aspects of his work converged in 1940 when All Hallows was devastated by bombing during
the Blitz and Clayton played a primary role in fundraising for its restoration, joining this to a general drive for raising money for the similarly devastated East End. In 1948, Clayton set up the Winant Clayton Volunteer Association to bring young Americans to London for volunteer work in honour of
John G. Winant (ex-American Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who had committed suicide the year before). In 1959, the association helped to send British volunteers to America to do similar work, setting up a mutual exchange scheme that has continued to this day. While remaining based at All Hallows, Clayton travelled widely in Britain and throughout the British Empire promoting Toc H and encouraging the foundation of new branches. He was also the chaplain to the
British Petroleum Company - a duty which overlapped with his chaplaincy to the
Anglo-Saxon tanker fleet during the Second World War (a position which he was particularly proud of). He was the subject of
This Is Your Life in 1958 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre. Clayton died on 16 December 1972. He is honoured in the
Royal Army Chaplains' Museum and in "Talbot House" in Poperinge. ==References==