Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Layfield, John
LAYFIELD, JOHN, D.D. (d. 1617), divine, was admitted scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, 18 April 1578, and became minor fellow 2 Oct. 1583, major fellow 29 April 1585, lector linguæ Græciæ in 1598, and examinator grammaticæ in 1599. He was probably the 'chaplain and attendant' of George Clifford, third earl of Cumberland, during his expedition against the West Indies in 1598, and wrote 'A large relation of the Porto Ricco voiage . . . very much abbreviated.' which is printed in Purchas's 'Pilgrims.' iv. 1156, London, 1625, fol. He was appointed rector of St. Clement Danes, London, 23 March 1601, and appears to have resigned his fellowship at Trinity in 1603. In 1606 his name appears among the revisers of the Bible in the list of those divines who sat at Westminster, and revised Genesis to 2 Kings inclusive. 'Being skilled in architecture his judgment was much relied on for the fabric of the Tabernacle and Temple' (Collier, Ecclesiastical History, 1852, vii. 337). In 1610 he was created a fellow of the newly founded Chelsea College. He continued to be rector of St. Clement Danes till his death on 6 Nov. 1617.
[Information kindly supplied by Dr. W. Aldis Wright from the archives of Trinity College, Cambridge; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (ed. Bliss), i. 427 (but the suggestion that Edmund Layfleld wrote the 'Porto Ricco Voyage' is not to be accepted); Cardwell's Documentary Annals, ii. 106; Stow Survey of London.]