Clayton, Morris & Co, scriveners, merchant bankers and estate agents London

Clayton, Morris & Co., law scriveners, merchant bankers and estate agents, of the City of London was originally established in 1636 by Robert Abbot, and was taken over on his death in 1658 by his nephew and apprentice, Robert Clayton, and another of his apprentices, John Morris. From its foundation in 1638 until the premises were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, the firm was based at the sign of the Flying Horse in the parish of St Michael's, Cornhill. It then moved to premises in Austin Friars, whilst purpose built premises were constructed in Old Jewry, to which the bank relocated in 1672. At this point, the name and symbol of the Flying Horse ceased to be used. No contract was ever registered for the Clayton - Morris corporation, and the company was known variously as Robert Clayton and Partner, John Morris and Partner, and Morris and Clayton and Company.

Robert Abbott, c 1610 - 1653, was born in Gretton, Northamptonshire, but went to London during the 1620s, becoming apprenticed to Francis Webb, scrivener. He completed his apprenticeship and became a member of the Scriveners Company in 1635, establishing his own shop, the Flying Horse, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. As a result of his Royalist sympathies, he was forced to move to Bow in 1646, but his business flourished nonetheless. Despite a codicil to Abbott's will specifying that his banking operations should be dissolved after his death, his apprentices, Robert Clayton and John Morris, continued to run the business.

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