Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clay, James
CLAY, JAMES (1805–1873), writer on whist, was born in London in 1805. His father, a merchant in the city of London, was brother of Sir William Clay, M.P. for the Tower Hamlets [q. v.] Clay was educated at Winchester. In 1830, in company with Benjamin Disraeli, who maintained to the end a close friendship with him, he travelled in the East. In 1837 he contested Beverley, and in 1841 Hull, unsuccessfully. In 1847 he was elected as a liberal for Hull, for which borough he sat until his death, which took place in 1873 at Regency Square, Brighton. He married the daughter of General Woolrych, one of Wellington's generals, and had a family, the best known of whom are Ernest Clay (who had a distinguished diplomatic career, and on his marriage with the daughter of Mr. Ker Seymer, formerly member for Worcestershire, took after his own name that of Ker Seymer), Frederick Clay, the musician, and Cecil Clay, well known in literary and artistic circles. Clay was chiefly eminent as a whist-player. 'A Treatise on the Game of Whist, by J. C.,' affixed to J. L. Baldwin's 'Laws of Short Whist' (London, 1804), has gone through many editions, and retains its authority in this country and in America. Some refinements which have come in, such as the lead from the penultimate and the discard from a strong suit when the adversaries show strength in trumps, secured his adhesion, and have been added to later editions by the author's sons. In the 'Correspondence of Lord Beaconsfield' are many friendly references to Clay. In a letter from Malta, dated 27 Sept. 1830 (Home Letters, pp. 58-9), Disraeli speaks of Clay's life of 'splendid adventure,' and, afer chronicling his various triumphs, appends the characteristic reflection: 'To govern men you must either excel them in their accomplishments or despise them. Clay does one, I do the other, and we are both equally popular.'
[Information privately supplied.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.69
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 8 | i | 8 f.e. | Clay, James: after he sat insert till he was unseated on petition in 1853, and then from 1857 |
| 7 f.e. | for in 1873 read on 26 Sept. 1873 |