Clement Carlyon was the 4th son of Rev. John Carlyon (1722-1798), Rector of Broadwell, Essex. Born in Truro on 14 April 1777, he was educated at Truro grammar school and at Pembroke College, Cambridge; B.A. 1798; M.A. 1801. M.L. 1804, M.D. 1813. He practised as a physician in Truro from 1806 to 1861, and was Mayor of Truro five times.

He was the author of Latin letters to the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge (1799-1800); An authentic narrative of the extraordinary fortitude and miraculous preservation of Thomas Holman (1816); Observations on the endemic typhus fever of Cornwall (1827); Early years and late reflections (2 volumes 1836-1843, 2nd edition, 4 volumes 1856-1858); and Precepts for the preservation of health, life, and happiness, medical and moral (1859). This last named carries a portrait of Dr Carlyon opposite the frontispiece.

Dr Clement Carlyon died at Truro on 5 March 1864.