John Thornton (1720 - 1790)

Born 1 Apr 1720 in London, England

Ancestors

Husband of Lucy (Watson) Thornton — married 28 Nov 1753 in Cottingham, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 7 Nov 1790 at age 70 in Bath, Somerset, England

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John Thornton is Notable.

Biography

John was born in London on 1 Apr 1720.^[1][2] He is recorded as the father of Jane Thornton, later Leslie and Countess of Leven, Countess of Melville.^[3][4]

The Thornton family, which originated in Yorkshire, was a large, prosperous and widely connected family, with interests in trade and banking, a strong tradition on one side of the family of service in India, and the usual sprinkling of clergymen. The foundations of the family fortune were laid by Robert (1692-1747/8) who was engaged in the Russian trade. He also set up in partnership with Samuel Watson of Hull and others as a 'sugar baker or refiner' at Hull. References to the firm of Messrs Thornton and Watson appear in many documents in the National Archive collection. There was also a soap 'manufactory' at Sutton-in-Holderness. However, in spite of Samuel Watson, whose sister Lucy married Robert's son John, leaving his estate to any son of John Thornton 'who shall be bred to trade and carry on the same in the town of Kingston-upon-Hull', John's children appear to have had little personal interest in carrying on the sugar trade in Hull and preferred to live in or near London and put in a manager. Indeed, John himself bought a large estate on the south side of Clapham Common, where he built houses for himself and members of the family.^[5]

John inherited a large fortune and continued to invest it in trade, particularly in the Russian and Baltic trade. He acquired wealth which he donated to Christian ministry causes. John Thornton was a noted Evangelical and was a friend of Henry Venn, the Evangelical clergyman who was curate of Clapham. His sons continued the tradition, especially Henry, the youngest (1760-1815). Henry was a friend of Henry Venn's son John, who was Rector of Clapham and founder of the Church Missionary Society, William Wilberforce (a second cousin through Robert Thornton's daughter by his first wife), Hannah More and Zachary Macaulay. His house at Clapham, Battersea Rise, which he bought in 1792, became a centre of the so-called 'Clapham Sect', and he shared it with Wilberforce until his marriage to Marianne Sykes in 1796. In its grounds he built two other houses, Glenelg for Charles Grant, and Broomfield for Edward Eliot.^[6]

He was noticeably frugal in his personal life and he became known as a munificent supporter of the first generation of ‘Evangelicals.’ He circulated immense quantities of bibles and religious books in all parts of the world, and printed many at his own expense.

Thornton was the first treasurer of the Marine Society, and his portrait by Gainsborough is in their board-room in Clarke's Place, Bishopsgate Street Within. He was a director of the Russia Company, but declined to be its governor, on the ground of his disapproval of some in-decorums permitted at their public dinners. His strictness, and some oddities of manner, exposed him to sneers, to which he was absolutely indifferent. He was hospitable to congenial persons, though mixing little in general society.

Marriage and Family

He married, 28 Nov. 1753, Lucy, the only daughter and heiress of Samuel Watson of Kingston-upon-Hull. She had been much influenced by Dr. Watts.

They had four children: Henry, mentioned above; Samuel, a Director of the Bank of England and later MP for Surrey moved to Albury Court in 1802 and died without children; Robert, inherited the houses on the family estate, but, after business losses which he tried unsuccessfully to redeem by gambling, fled to America in 1814. The only daughter, Jane, married Alexander Leslie, 7th Earl of Leven and Melville, with whose family the Thorntons shared banking interests.

Henry had nine children, including Marianne (the subject of a book by E.M. Forster) Laura, E.M. Forster's grandmother, Isabella, who married Archdeacon Benjamin Harrison, Sophia, who became the second wife of John Thornton Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven and Melville, and Henry Sykes. Samuel also had nine children, including Samuel who became a Rear-Admiral and Harriett, who was John Thornton Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven and Melville first wife.

He died, at Bath, Somerset, on 7 Nov 1790 as a result of an accident.

Sources

1. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography where his bio appears under that of his son, Henry.
2. ↑ Birth - Name: John Thornton Gender: Male Baptism Date: 20 Apr 1720 Baptism Place: Saint Katherine Coleman,London,London,England Father: Robt. Thornton Mother: Hannah FHL Film Number: 560022, 560023 Ancestry.co.uk
3. ↑ #S-1 Balfour Paul; Vol 6, page 118
4. ↑ #S-20 Fraser, Vol 1, page 360
5. ↑ Information obtained from the Thornton Papers at the National Archive
6. ↑ Information obtained from the Thornton Papers at the National Archive

• Source S-1Sir James Balfour Paul, Editor. The Scots peerage, founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's peerage of Scotland; containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom. Vol. VI. Edinburgh: D Douglas, 1904. Open Library

• Source S-20 Sir William Fraser. The Melvilles, Earls of Melville, and the Leslies, Earls of Leven; in 3 Volumes - Vol 1 referenced. Volume I. Edinburgh: Privately Printed, 1890. archive.org

• The Peerage.com source of reference has not been confirmed.

• "'Wilberforce: Family and Friends', by Anne Stott; OUP; Oxford; 2002, pp. xiii, 8."

• "'Incest and Influence', by Adam Kuper; Harvard University Press; 2011, p. 141."

See also:

• 'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell, published by The Hogarth Press, Pimlico, London in 1996. ISBN 0 7126 7450 0, includes extensive family trees. Hundreds of friends, professional connections and people in the 'Bloomsbury set' are also mentioned in the text.'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell