John Greenwood CLAYTON

Lieutenant-Colonel John Greenwood Clayton was born at Dewsbury, Yorkshire, on 30 December 1865. After qualifying as a veterinary surgeon in Edinburgh, he worked in Cheshire and Nottingham before emigrating to New Zealand.

In 1899 Clayton was one of six veterinary surgeons selected by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture from a field of 110 applicants. From 1 May that year he served as a Government Veterinary Surgeon and Special Inspector. His duties included meat inspection; in 1899 he was given responsibility for inspecting the Aramoho slaughterhouse at Wanganui and the meat produced there. This work places his later military service in the wider development of New Zealand’s public veterinary service.

Clayton also became involved in the country’s military veterinary organisation. He served in South Africa as a veterinary officer, was promoted Major in 1908, and was appointed Principal Veterinary Officer for the Canterbury Military District with effect from 1 December 1914. His wartime responsibilities included the examination and purchase of horses for military service.

He died in Wellington in January 1916 after a long illness and was buried in Karori Cemetery. Contemporary reporting creates a small discrepancy over the exact day of death, so the date should be treated cautiously until checked against the civil death register.