Edward Waller Claypole was born on June 1, 1835, in Ross, Herefordshire, England.

He was a British American geologist and paleobotanist. He studied at the University of London, where he received the degrees of A.B. in 1862, S.B. in 1864, and Sc.D. in 1888. He moved to the United States in 1872 and served as Professor of Natural Sciences in Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio (1873-1881). For two years he was a paleontologist to the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. From 1883 to 1898 he was Professor of Natural Sciences in Buchtel College at Akron, Ohio. Because of the failing health of his wife, he resigned from this position and sought a southwestern climate. During the last three years of his life, he was a Professor of Geology and Biology at Throop Polytechnic Institute at Pasadena. California. He is the author of "The Lake Age in Ohio or, Some Episodes During the Retreat of the North American Ice-Sheet" (1887).

In 1865, he married Jane Trotter (1837–1870). In 1879, he remarried Catherine Benedicta Trotter (1846–1901). He died on August 19, 1901, in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California.