Educated at Harrow, Clinton enlisted in the army in 1803 and fought in the Peninsular War.  At the age of seventeen, on the death of his father, he inherited the title and the family estates of Trefusis near Flushing (pictured left) and Heanton Satchville in Petrockstowe, North Devon.  The larger, family mansion, seat in Devon (pictured right) had burnt down, two years earlier, 1795.  It had been described as the largest and most impressive house in Devon.

On August 4^th, 1814, Clinton married Frances Selina Isabella Poyntz, daughter of William Stephen Poyntz, Member of Parliament for Callington (1810 – 1818) and Hon. Elizabeth Mary Browne of Cowdray Park in Sussex.  Following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, Clinton spent much time on the continent notably in Italy, becoming a close friend of Lord Byron.  

He died, aged 45, in Florence leaving no descendants.  The title passed to his brother and his widow married Brownlow Cecil, 2^nd Marquess of Exeter.  Trefusis remains in the family to this day.