John Thornton (philanthropist)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Thornton (1720–1790) was a merchant and Christian philanthropist.
Thornton was the son of Robert Thornton of Clapham, Surrey, a merchant who became a director of the Bank of England
He invested heavily in the Russian and Baltic trade, and much of his wealth was donated to Christian ministry causes. A devout Anglican, he espoused evangelical causes, regardless of denomination, and his extensive giving included evangelical ministries in various parts of the world.
He is most well-known as having partly sponsored John Newton, the ex-slave ship trader who became an Anglican minister]] at Olney, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire from 1764 to 1780 – to whom he gave £200 a year. In 1780 he offered Newton the living of St Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street – the fashionable London church where Newton became established as a noted preacher for over twenty years, and where he ended his days.
Thornton travelled extensively and supported many evangelical causes, aiding Lady Huntingdon in setting up her training college with an interest-free loan. He took every opportunity to advance the evangelical cause. He made generous contributions to churches in different parts of the country, including Clapham, which was to become centre of the so-called Clapham Sect of Christian social reformers.
On 28 November 1753 Thornton married Lucy Watson (1722–1785), daughter of Samuel Watson of Hull. They had four children, including Samuel Thornton (1754–1838), and Henry Thornton (1760–1815), banker and economist.
John Thornton sustained a fatal injury as a result of an accident at Bath and died on 7 November 1790.
[edit] References
- Hochschild, Adam. Bury the Chains, The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (Pan Macmillan, 2005)
- Stephen, Leslie. Henry Thornton in Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 1898)
- Welch, Edwin. John Thornton in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
