Anthony Wilson Thorold (13 June 1825 – 25 July 1895) was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

in the

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. The son of a

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priest, he also served as

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

. It was in that role that he travelled throughout North America and met with leaders of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. While he wrote a number of devotional books, he is best remembered for having recruited Isabella Gilmore to revive the female diaconate in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

Early life

Thorold was the second son of the Reverend Edward Thorold and his wife Mary (''née'' Wilson), and grandson of Sir John Thorold, 9th Baronet (1734–1815). He was educated privately, entering

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

in 1843; he graduated B.A. 1847, M.A. 1850, was ordained as a deacon in 1849 and as a priest in 1850. He subsequently received a D.D. by diploma in 1877. He married Henrietta Greene (a daughter of Thomas Greene MP for Lancaster) and followed his father into a career in the

. He served as vicar of St Giles in the Fields, Curzon Chapel, and St Pancras. His wife died in 1859 and he married secondly to Emily Labouchère, sister of the MP Henry Labouchère. They had three children: Algar Labouchère Thorold (1866–1936), Dorothy, and Sybil (later Countess de la Bédoyère). His descendants through Sybil include his grandson Michael de la Bédoyère and his great-great-grandson, the historian Guy de la Bédoyère. In 1870 he was elected a member of the first London School Board, representing the Marylebone Division. His second wife died in 1877, the same year he was made

. Thorold's cousin, Edward Trollope, was made

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

for

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

also that same year.

Travels

Thorold had extensive travels, preaching in the United States in the late 19th century. During that time he visited

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. He recalled that on 1 September 1884, "We went round the new Mormon Tabernacle, of solid granite, very massively built out of the tithes of the people. It is only one-third finished. Then into the tabernacle now in use, tortoise shape, and capable of holding 7000 people ... we passed the great co-operative store ... and

Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

's houses', near which was pointed out Mr. Taylor John Taylor">John_Taylor_(Mormon).html" ;"title="resumably John Taylor (Mormon)">John Taylor a very important and able ruler in the body". Thorold went on to the Great Salt Lake and noted "There is a bathing station here, and almost all the company, gentlemen and ladies, bathed in the sea, which, from the quantity of salt, it is quite impossible to sink". He travelled on and even reached

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before returning home.

Female diaconate

In 1886, he recruited Isabella Gilmore to revive the female diaconate in his diocese. Her initial reluctance, based on her lack of theological training and her lack of knowledge of the deaconess order, was worn down by Thorold. At the end of October 1886, she felt she received a calling during Morning Prayer. She later wrote, "it was just as if God's voice had called me, and the intense rest and joy were beyond words." Gilmore and Bishop Thorold proceeded to plan for an order of deaconesses for the Church of England where the women were to be "a curiously effective combination of nurse, social worker and amateur policemen". In 1887, Gilmore was ordained a deaconess and a training house for other woman was put in place, later to be named Gilmore House in her honour. In her nearly 20 years of service, she re-established the female diaconate in the

Anthony Wilson Thorold Bishop of Rochester Vanity Fair 10 January 1885

Final years and legacy

He was translated to the see of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

in 1891 (being enthroned on March 3), where he would live out his days. A prayer survives from this time that is attributed to "Bishop A. W. Thorold, D.D., Lord Bishop of Winchester, England", Unlike his cousin, Bishop Edward Trollope, Thorold performed little serious scholarship. He did write a number of devotional books, among them ''The Yoke of Christ'' (Isbister, London 1884), ''The Gospel of Christ'' (Isbister 1884), and ''The Claim of Christ on the Young'' (Isbister, London 1891). Shortly after his death in 1895, C. H. Simpkinson wrote ''The Life and Work of Bishop Thorold'', published by Isbister in 1896. It contained many quotes from Thorold's correspondence and also accounts of his travels.

References

External links