Thomas Thornton

Thomas Thornton, c.1786. Portrait by Sawrey Gilpin and Philip Reinagle Thomas Thornton (1751/2–1823) was an English sportsman, known for his assiduity in hunting and other outdoor pursuits, and in betting.

Early life He was the son of William Thornton of Yorkshire, Member of Parliament for York, 1747–1754 and 1758–1761; his mother Mary was the daughter of John Myster of Epsom. Born in London, he was sent to Charterhouse School, and matriculated at Glasgow University in 1766. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1771.

Succeeding to his father's estate, Thornton became a keen sportsman, and revived falconry. He was appointed colonel of his father's old regiment, the 2nd West Yorks Militia. In 1786 he undertook a sporting tour in the Scottish Highlands. He chartered the sloop Falcon, and partly by sea and partly by land travelled through the northern and western highlands, dividing his time between hunting, shooting, angling, and hawking.

In 1794, a dispute arose between Thornton and some of the officers of the militia unit under his command, while stationed at Roborough Camp in Devon. This led to Thornton's court-martial and his resignation from the army, although he would later characterise the event as a "Mutinous Conspiracy" in a pamphlet he wrote on the events.

He joined some French hunting parties and intended the purchase of a French estate; but difficulties of naturalisation and the renewal of the Napoleonic Wars frustrated the project. In 1821 Thornton sold Pont-sur-Seine to Casimir Pierre Périer. He latterly took lodgings in Paris, where he died on 10 March 1823.

In 1804 Thornton published A Sporting Tour through the Northern Parts of England and Great Part of the Highlands of Scotland. It was noticed in the Edinburgh Review of January 1805 by Walter Scott. The work was republished in 1896 in the "Sporting Library" of Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet.

One of Thornton's volley guns—an extremely unusual, 14-barrel rifle—survives and is part of the armouries collection of Le Grand Curtius museum in Liege, Belgium. This was made in London around 1800 by William Dupe. The weapon is inscribed in gold damascene with words "Perdition to Conspirators" and "With this alone I'll defend Robro Camp 1795", a reference to the events around five years earlier that led to the loss of Thornton's military command.

In 2001, Christie's sold a pair of Thornton's sporting guns, and a pair of cased pistols made for Thornton by Joseph Manton around 1774. Another pair of Thornton's pistols, duelling pistols made by Manton around 1776, was auctioned by Bonhams in 2011.

Family

Thornton was perhaps twice married: possibly firstly to Alicia Thornton, so-called, thought by Charles Fothergill to be his mistress.

Thornton married at Lambeth, in 1806, Eliza Cawston of Mundon, Essex, by whom he had a son, William Thomas, born in London in 1807. By a will executed in London in 1818 he bequeathed almost all his property to Thornvillia Diana Thornton, his illegitimate daughter, then aged 17, by Priscilla Duins. The will was disputed by his widow on behalf of her son, and both the prerogative court and French tribunals pronounced against its validity.