George Clinton was born c. 1686 in Stourton Parva, Lincolnshire, England. He came of a family long distinguished for public service. He was a younger son of Francis Clinton, sixth earl of Lincoln, and of Susan, daughter of Anthony Penniston of Oxfordshire.
Through his brother, the seventh earl of Lincoln, and his nephew, the ninth earl, he was connected by marriage with the Pelham family, the most prominent members of which, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, and Henry Pelham, were leaders of the Whig aristocracy of the eighteenth century. It was through this connection with Newcastle that Clinton secured most of the important appointments of his career. He entered the navy in 1708 and attained his captaincy in 1716. During the next twenty-five years he received various naval assignments, the most important of which were those of commodore of the convoy to Newfoundland and governor of that island in 1731 and of commodore and commander-in-chief of the squadron in the Mediterranean in 1737. On December 10, 1743, Clinton was promoted to be rear admiral of the red squadron and on the following June 23 was advanced to be vice admiral of the white. On April 23, 1745, he rose to be vice admiral of the red, and on July 15, 1747, he received his final promotion to the rank of admiral of the white. From 1757 until his death he was the senior flag officer of the navy. As a naval officer he had almost no opportunities to distinguish himself, and apparently his abilities in this direction were little above the ordinary. After attaining the rank of rear admiral he never served at sea. During the latter years of his captaincy, he had become increasingly dissatisfied with his prospects and especially with his meager income. Although he had expressed a desire to "live by the sea, " he began, about 1739, to press Newcastle for the governorship of New York, a post in which he believed he might live at ease on shore while ridding himself of the heavy debts which he had incurred. At first Newcastle was inclined to put him off, but Clinton's financial situation grew steadily worse and his fear of his creditors increased until he wrote that he was "obliged to a way I never knew before, of going out very early in a morning and not returning till dark night, afraid what may happen". Finally Newcastle yielded, and on July 3, 1741, Clinton's commission as governor passed the seals. After an unusually long delay in departure, he arrived in the province on September 20, 1743, and at once assumed the administration. One of the greatest weaknesses of his character--his entire dependence on others for advice and support--immediately displayed itself. Largely through the influence of James De Lancey, chief justice of the province and its leading politician, he endeavored to conciliate the Assembly by permitting the passage of an annual revenue law, instead of one of perpetual duration or for a term of years as his instructions directed. The outbreak of war with France in the following year and the exigencies of civil administration, enabled the Assembly to gain further advantages, especially in financial matters. A personal quarrel with De Lancey in the spring of 1746 threw the Governor into the hands of Cadwallader Colden, the senior councillor and a bitter enemy of the chief justice. For the next four years Colden controlled the Governor's policy and drafted most of his messages to the Assembly with unfortunate results to Clinton's popularity. Always more interested in military than in civil affairs, Clinton permitted the legislature to assume entire control of all appropriations, contrary to his instructions, and even to dictate the appointment of officers. On the other hand, the Assembly's refusal to advance the money necessary for the pay of the troops raised for the abortive expedition to Canada in 1746 and 1747 or for gifts needed to secure the cooperation of the Iroquois, gave the Governor an excuse to draw upon the home government for about 84, 000, a large part of which, according to his opponents, found its way into his own private fortune. The truth of this charge cannot now be fully determined, but it seems certain that Clinton was not entirely scrupulous in the methods he employed to gain that financial profit which was his chief incentive in securing the governorship. At the close of the war in 1748 he made a gallant attempt to regain the authority which he had lost. Fortified by the advice of Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts, he put aside his naturally indolent and easy-going ways and refused to approve the Assembly's money bills unless it would surrender the executive powers which it had seized. But his frantic appeals for help from home went unanswered, due to the incompetence of the Board of Trade and its concern with other matters. After two years of deadlock, without salary from the province or encouragement from England, Clinton gave way and conceded all the advances which the Assembly had made. The last three years of his administration were passed in comparative quiet. But, meanwhile, the Board of Trade had revived under the leadership of the Earl of Halifax and had determined upon a vigorous effort to restore the prerogative in New York. For this purpose a new governor was deemed necessary. Clinton was therefore superseded on October 10, 1753, by Sir Danvers Osborn, a brother-in-law of Halifax. Subsequent governors, however, never recovered more than a small part of the authority which Clinton had lost, and his administration thus brought a permanent weakening of the royal government in the province and a corresponding increase in popular control. His failure was due in part to conditions brought by the war, but more particularly to his own dependence on ill-chosen advisers, to his reluctance to exert himself in a struggle with the Assembly, and to the absence from his character of those qualities which make a successful politician. "Easy in his temper but uncapable of business, " wrote a son of a member of his council, "he was always obliged to rely upon some favorite. In a province given to hospitality, he erred by immuring himself in the fort, or retiring to a grotto in the country, where his time was spent with his bottle and a little trifling circle, who played billiards with his lady and lived upon his bounty". He returned to England with 80, 000, was made governor of Greenwich Hospital and sat in parliament from 1754 to 1760 as a member for the borough of Saltash.
Clinton was married to an heiress, Anne Carle. His son was Major-General Sir Henry Clinton, K. B. , commander-in-chief of the British forces during a large part of the American Revolution.
