MANUSCRIPT OF 'EARLY YORKSHIRE CHARTERS 11, THE PERCY FEE' EDITED BY C T CLAY

Biography or history

Sir Charles Travis Clay (1885-1978), antiquary and librarian, was born on 30 July 1885 at Rastrick House, near Halifax, Yorkshire, the younger son of John William Clay (d. 1918), historian and genealogist, and his wife, Alice, daughter of Colonel Henry Pilleau, of the Royal Army Medical Corps and an artist, who descended from the family of Pezé Pilleau, the Huguenot silversmith. He was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he won a mathematical scholarship in 1904. He gained only a second class in mathematical moderations in 1905, but was allowed to keep his scholarship and read history. In this subject he was guided mainly by H. W. C. Davis and A. L. Smith. The former coached Clay in the special subject he had chosen-medieval land tenure-and gave him the interest in charter material which he later developed with distinction. He obtained a first class in modern history in 1908.


In March 1909 Clay became assistant private secretary to the earl of Crewe, then colonial secretary, and stayed with him after Lord Crewe became secretary of state for India and leader of the House of Lords. In 1913 he married Violet (d. 1972), second daughter of William Snowdon Robson, Lord Robson, lord of appeal. They had three daughters, of whom the eldest, Rachel Maxwell-Hyslop, became a noted archaeologist. In the summer of 1914 Clay was appointed assistant librarian to the House of Lords. But less than a year later he was commissioned in the Royal Devon yeomanry and went to France, where he was twice mentioned in dispatches. He attained the rank of major. His elder brother was killed in 1918.


In 1922 Clay was appointed librarian to the house and began a distinguished tenure of office lasting thirty-four years, until he retired in 1956. He possessed the ideal temperament and intellect for this post. His remarkably accurate memory and his immense knowledge of literature and history-invariably imparted to peers with great courtesy-were highly valued by the house. He was recognized as an authority on peerage history and was frequently consulted when peerage cases came before the house. While librarian he compiled five articles for volumes 8 and 10 of The Complete Peerage, of which he was a trustee for many years. In 1952 he was appointed a member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, on which he served for thirteen years. Clay's wide knowledge of art, in particular Italian painting, was valued by that committee.


But it is as one of the most distinguished editors of medieval charters Britain has produced that Clay will be remembered. His work on medieval documents had begun in October 1908, when H. W. C. Davis gave him advice on collecting material from the Public Record Office for a volume of Placita coram rege or de banco (published 1911) for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (of which he was to be a member for seventy years and president from 1953 to 1956). He drew constant inspiration from his father, J. W. Clay, who is remembered as the editor of the Visitation of Yorkshire by Sir William Dugdale. In 1922 Clay was invited to continue a series of Yorkshire Deeds and during the next eighteen years he edited five volumes calendaring and annotating deeds to the death of Elizabeth I. In 1932 he was invited by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society to continue the series of Early Yorkshire Charters begun by William Farrer. In Clay's first two volumes, on the honour of Richmond, his precision in
the dating of the charters immediately set a new standard of editing, only surpassed by Clay himself in volume 8 (1950), covering the honour of Warenne, which prompted Sir Frank Stenton to write that it was 'for the moment the last number in the finest series of Charters now appearing anywhere in the world' (PBA, 326-7). Clay's Early Yorkshire Charters, in ten volumes published between 1935 and 1965, is regarded as a masterpiece and in Sir Richard Southern's opinion is a work of 'all but impeccable scholarship' (ibid., 327). A bibliography of his works and an appreciation of Clay by Professor Christopher Brooke accompanied his last published work, Notes on the Family of Clere, a privately printed volume presented to the author on his ninetieth birthday in 1975.


Clay had a mind of crystal clarity which he retained to the end of his life. Although somewhat reserved in manner, he was a delightful and stimulating friend to anyone who shared his interests, and he took particular pleasure in helping younger historians. The range of his interests can be gauged by the many societies to which he belonged. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries for sixty-five years and vice-president in 1934-8; and honorary vice-president of the Royal Historical Society. He was a member of the Huguenot Society and the Harleian Society, for both of which he edited a volume. Membership of the Roxburghe Club, to which he presented a fine facsimile of a thirteenth-century York psalter, gave him pleasure for thirty-seven years. His chief outdoor interest was cricket; his record of attendance at the Eton and Harrow match at Lord's was probably unique.


Clay received an honorary doctorate from Leeds University in 1943. He was appointed CB in 1944 and knighted in 1957. In 1950 he was elected a fellow of the British Academy. Clay died at Oxford on 31 January 1978.

Provenance

MS972-985. Papers of J W Clay (1837-1918) and C T Clay (1855-1978)

Access and usage

Access

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Related material

YRS Extra Series 9 (1963). See also MS869, MS874, MS960, MS962, MS965, MS980 and MS1189.

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