Claypole was the son of Adam Claypole of Lolham Hall, Maxey, Northamptonshire, and his wife Dorothy Wingfield, daughter of Robert Wingfield, of Upton, near Caster, Northamptonshire and his wife Elizabeth Cecil, who was sister to William, Lord Burghley.
He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. His name was spelt in a great variety of ways, including Cleypole, Cleypoole, Chappole, Clappoole, Claipol, and Claypole. In 1637 Claypole was summoned as a gentleman before the Star Chamber, and the attorney-general was ordered to begin a prosecution against him for refusing to pay ship money.
He declared for the Parliament at the start of the Civil War in 1643, and in 1644, he was appointed one of their assessors for the county of Northampton.
. He may have been High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1655, as major-general William Boteler recommends him to John Thurloe, in a letter to him, dated 16 November. Claypole was created a baronet by the Protector on 16 July 1657.
Claypole married Mary Angell, the daughter of a wealthy London merchant. They had fourteen children one of whom was John (1625–1688) who married a daughter of Oliver Cromwell.
In 1654, Claypole was elected Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in the First Protectorate Parliament. James (1634–1687) another son, became a merchant, emigrated to Pennsylvania becoming a prominent member of the colony.
