See also
| Husband: | Richard Thornton (1776-1865) | |
| Wife: | Alice Lee (c. 1811- ) | |
| Children: | Ellen (Lee) Thornton (1825-1888) | |
| Margaret Lee (c. 1828- ) | ||
| Richard Napoleon (Lee) Thornton (c. 1833-1876) | ||
| Elizabeth Lee (c. 1836- ) | ||
| Name: | Richard Thornton | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Robert Thornton (1746-1794) | |
| Mother: | Ellen Lambert ( - ) | |
| Birth | 1776 | Burton Village, Thornton, Yorkshire |
| Baptism | 13 Oct 1776 (age 0) | Thornton In Lonsdale, Yorkshire |
| Residence | Old Swan Wharf, London Bridge, & Cannon Hill, Merton, Surrey | |
| Census | 1841 (age 64-65) | Independent, Cannon Hill House, Merton |
| Census | 1851 (age 74-75) | East India Merchant, Cannon Hill House, Merton, Surrey (unmarried) |
| Occupation | 1853 (age 76-77) | Chairman of the Portuguese Bondholders' Committee |
| Census | 1861 (age 84-85) | East India Merchant, Cannon Hill House, Merton, Surrey (unmarried) |
| Death fact | 1865 (age 88-89) | 1865 Jun Qtr, Croydon, 2a/132 |
| Death | 24 Jun 1865 (age 88-89) | Merton, Surrey |
| Probate | 26 Jul 1865 | Probate (PR) to Emma Thornton, Richard Thornton West, Richard Napoleon Thornton (herein called Richard Napoleon Lee) and Alfred Pulford |
| Name: | Alice Lee | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | c. 1811 | |
| Census | 1841 (age 29-30) | South Island Place, Lambeth St Mary |
| Name: | Ellen (Lee) Thornton | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Spouse: | Alfred Pulford (1823-1896) | |
| Birth | 14 Dec 1825 | Marylebone, Middlesex |
| Census | 1841 (age 15-16) | Living with mother, Alice Lee (Ellen Lee) |
| Will | 1865 (age 39-40) | £300, 000 for life in will of Richard Thornton |
| Death fact | 1888 (age 62-63) | 1888 Mar Qtr, Tonbridge, 2a/440 (aged 62) |
| Death | 9 Mar 1888 (age 62) | Tonbridge, Kent |
| Name: | Margaret Lee | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Birth | c. 1828 | Middlesex |
| Census | 1841 (age 12-13) | Living with mother, Alice Lee |
| Census | 1861 (age 32-33) | Living with sister Ellen & Alfred Pulford, unmarried |
| Will | 1865 (age 36-37) | £100, 000 in will of Richard Thornton |
| Name: | Richard Napoleon (Lee) Thornton | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Spouse 1: | Margaret James (c. 1835-bef1867) | |
| Spouse 2: | Ellen Ann Jones (1846-1881) | |
| Birth | c. 1833 | Clerkenwell, Middlesex |
| Residence | 98 Portland Place, London, W., and Knowle, Sidmouth, Devon | |
| Census | 1841 (age 7-8) | Richard Lee, living with mother, Alice Lee, South Island Place, Lambeth St Mary |
| Census | 1851 (age 17-18) | Solicitor's general clerk, 14 Rummers Place, Clerkenwell (Richard Lee, unmarried) |
| Education | 19 Mar 1851 (age 17-18) | Matric. St Johns Coll, Oxford, aged 18 |
| Member | 22 Jul 1852 (age 18-19) | Surrey Cricket Club: Probably played in match vs. MCC |
| Occupation | 19 Sep 1859 (age 25-26) | Steward, Bermondsey (on marriage cert.) |
| Will | 1865 (age 31-32) | £400, 000 in will of Richard Thornton |
| Occupation | 11 Jul 1867 (age 33-34) | Barrister at law, Kentish Town (on marriage cert.) |
| Occupation | 9 Jul 1874 (age 40-41) | Esquire, of Sidmouth, appointed as Income Tax Commissioner for Devon (L.Gazette 10.7.1874) |
| Death fact | 1876 (age 42-43) | 1876 Jun Qtr, Honiton, 5b/26 (aged 43) |
| Death | 28 May 1876 (age 42-43) | Knowle, Sidmouth, Devon |
| Probate | 15 Jul 1876 | Probate at PR to Albert Pulford, Richard Gardiner Minshull Jones, and Richard Thornton Thornton |
| Name: | Elizabeth Lee | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Birth | c. 1836 | Middlesex |
| Census | 1841 (age 4-5) | Living with mother, Alice Lee |
| Census | 1861 (age 24-25) | Living with sister Ellen & Alfred Pulford, unmarried |
| Will | 1865 (age 28-29) | £100, 000 in will of Richard Thornton |
Passing Rich. The will of Richard Thornton, of Old Swan Wharf, London bridge, and of Cannonhill, Merton, Surrey, has now been proved in the principal registry. The following are some of the main features : The personality in this country was sworn under £2,800,000. He leaves to his nephew, Thomas Thornton, all his freehold and leasehold estates, and to his nephew, Richard Thornton West, he leaves £300,000, and appoints them residuary legatees. To his sister, Mrs. Simpson, £100,000; to Ellen, wife of Alfred Pulford, £300,000 for life, and then to her husband and children; to Richard Napoleon Lee, £400,000; to Margaret and Elizabeth Lee, each £100,000; to his nieces, Agnes Gibson and Ellen Thornton, each £30,000; to the widow of his deceased nephew, Robert West, £20,000; to his nephews, Richard Thornton and Edmund Thornton, each £10,000; to his nephews, William and Joseph Devey, each £10,000; to his clerks, Joseph Browne and John L. Neall, each £20,000; to his nurse, £1,000; and to each of his other servants, £500. To the Leathersellers' Company, £5,000; Christ's Hospital, £5,000; to Hetherington's Charity for the Blind, £10,000; to the schools at Merton, £10,000; and to the poor of Merton, £1,000. To the schools at Burton and Thornton, £10,000; and to the poor of Thornton, £500. To the twenty-four following institutions, each £200 — namely, St. Thomas's, St. Guy's, Bethlehem, St. Luke's, Orthopaedic, Magdalen, St. Marks, Incurables, Dreadnought, Consumption, Victoria Park, City of London Truss, Deaf and Dumb, Blind, Asylum for Idiots, Merchant Seamen's Orphan, London Orphan, Infant Orphan, British Orphan, Female Orphan, Fatherless Children, Ladies' Charity School, St. Ann's, National Benevolent, and National Lifeboat Institutions.
Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 156, 28 December 1865, Page 3
Source: http://www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Richard Thornton, a London banker, whose father was one of the first directors and founders of Lloyd's Bank, purchased Cannon Hill House and Park after 1854. He took a great interest in all branches of the village life, especially in the day and Sunday schools. He was often to be seen driving his white cob and chaise, and would give the villagers a lift if they happened to be going his way. On Christmas Eve those who lived in this part of Merton were regaled with a mug of ale, a mincepie, and two and sixpence, and children a shilling and a mincepie.
In the park was a fine herd of black bullocks, some of which were sold to butchers for Christmas beef. A prime baron of beef was always selected for Richard Thornton's own table. After his death his sister and housekeeper lived here for a few years. The estate then passed to a nephew, who had the old house pulled down and used the park and woods adjoining for shooting.
From: REMINISCENCES OF OLD MERTON by W. H. CHAMBERLAIN, LONDON: MITCHELL HUGHES AND CLARKE, 1925
http://www.markpepall.plus.com/e321.htm
Richard Thornton West inherited over a million pounds from his uncle Richard Thornton who, it is believed, had made a fortune by blockade running in the Napoleonic wars.
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/grounds1969/ch3.html
Mr. Richard Thornton, a well-known merchant in London, has recently erected and endowed, at a cost of 15,000l, some commodious schools for the parishes of Burton and Thornton, in Lonsdale, co. Westmorland, as a benefaction to the place of his nativity.
Gentleman's Magazine, 1854
See also:
'Parishes: Merton', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 64-8. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43032
WG Hoskins, Richard Thornton A Victorian Millionaire, History Today, Volume XII, 8 (1962) 574-580
26 July 1865. The Will of Richard Thornton late of Old Swan Wharf London Bridge in the City of London and of Cannon Hill near Merton in the County of Surrey Esquire deceased who died 20 June 1865 at Cannon Hill aforesaid was proved at the Principal Registry by the oaths of Thomas Thornton of Old Swan Wharf aforesaid Esquire and Richard Thornton West of Old Swan Wharf aforesaid Esquire the Nephews Richard Napoleon Lee of the Middle Temple in the County of Middlesex Barrister at Law and Alfred Pulford of 65 St James Street Piccadilly in the County of Middlesex aforesaid Army Tailor four of the Executors. Effects under £2,800,000.