James Clay

James Clay (20 December 1804, London – 26 September 1873, Brighton)[1] was an English politician and a leading whist authority.[2]

Early life and education

Clay was born in Bloomsbury, London, son of merchant James Clay (1764–1828) and Mary (1766/7–1840). He was educated at Winchester College, then went up to Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a "gentleman's third" in classics.[3][4]

Career

Clay was MP for Kingston upon Hull from July 1847 until 1853, when he was unseated after a bribery inquiry. He regained the seat at an 1857 by-election and held it until his death.[1]

Clay played an important role in the development and passing of the Reform Act 1867. A radical who favoured greatly expanding the franchise, Clay entered into a pact with his old friend Benjamin Disraeli, who was responsible for the bill, to ensure it survived attacks and amendments from Gladstone. In return, Disraeli accepted Clay and his allies' amendments, which led to the enfranchisement of far more people than originally intended by the governing conservative party (Blake 1966, Disraeli).

According to an obituary in the Westminster papers: a monthly journal of chess, whist, games of skill and the drama Clay had been "the acknowledged head of the Whist world" for the last thirty years before his death, spending much of his time and attention on whist and piquet. In 1863 he became chairman of a committee for settling the laws of whist.[5]

Personal life

Clay married Eliza Camilla, daughter of General Josiah Allen Woolrych (1784-1849), of Weobley, Herefordshire, descendant of an ancient Shropshire family, at one time baronets.[6][7][8][9] They had six children, including the musical composer Frederic Clay and Henry Clay (later Clay-Ker-Seymer), grandfather of the photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 M. C. Curthoys, ‘Clay, James (1804–1873)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006
  2. ↑ Culbertson, Ely, ed. (1935). The Encyclopedia of Bridge. New York: The Bridge World, Inc. p. 467.
  3. ↑ Curthoys, M. C. (2004). "Clay, James (1804–1873), politician and writer on whist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5560. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ↑ The Shaping of Turkey in the British Imagination 1776-1923, David S. Katz, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, p. 130
  5. ↑ "James Clay", The Westminster Papers, 6: 117f.
  6. ↑ Disraeli's Fellow Traveller: James Clay- M.P. for Hull, John Markham, Highgate, 1997, p. 17
  7. ↑ Curthoys, M. C. (2004). "Clay, James (1804–1873), politician and writer on whist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5560. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ↑ Debrett Goes to Hollywood, Charles Kidd, St. Martin's Press, 1986, p. 22
  9. ↑ A History of the Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire, With illustrations, Charles John Robinson, 1873, pp. 99-100
  10. ↑ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, (5th ed.), Sir Bernard Burke, 1871, p. 1248


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