Thomas Henry Thornton CSI (1832 – 10 March 1913) was an English Indian Civil Servant, judge and author of two notable

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

biographies.

Biography

Thomas Henry Thornton was born in 1832, the son of a

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...

journalist, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and read Classics and Modern history at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, at which he was afterwards a fellow. In 1855, Thornton entered the Indian Civil Service in the last few years of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

as one of the first officers selected by competition. He was posted to the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

and played a small but distinguished role in the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

, noted in Roberts ''Forty-one Years in India''. Thornton had been returning from a visit to Philour fort, north of Ludhiana, as part of his work for George Ricketts, the Deputy Commissioner, when he came upon Indian soldiers of that fort and

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

(Jullunder) marching in revolt on Ludhiana. Rather than return to the fort for protection, he rode on, cut the cables of a bridge of boats over the

Sutlej River The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of th ...

, and continued to Ludhiana to raise the alarm. In 1864, at the comparatively young age of 32, he was appointed Secretary to the Punjab Government, a post he held for 12 years. He filled

Charles Umpherston Aitchison Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchison (20 May 1832 – 18 February 1896) was a Scottish colonial administrator who was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, then a province of British India. He founded Aitchison College, Lahore in 1886. He ser ...

's foreign secretary post during the former's furloughs back to the UK. Thornton assumed responsibility for the organisation of the 1877

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by Britain at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was he ...

, the success of which, together with his service to date, led to the conferring on him of the award of Companion of the

Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander ( GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...

. However Thornton and Aitchison were both identified as proteges of

John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, (4 March 1811 – 27 June 1879), known as Sir John Lawrence, Bt., between 1858 and 1869, was a prominent British Imperial statesman and served as the Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869. Earl ...

, the

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

from 1864 to 1869, whose policies were opposed by

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, (8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891), was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 ...

, Viceroy from 1876 to 1880. Aitchison transferred to Burma, and Thornton was passed over for promotion into Aitchison's vacant role. He now became a judge in the Punjab Chief Court and a member of the Legislative Council, retiring in 1881 after the completion of 25-years of colonial service, at the very early age of 49. In his long retirement, he wrote two well-regarded biographies of key British India figures,

Robert Groves Sandeman Sir Robert Groves Sandeman, KCSI (1835–1892) was a British Indian Army officer and colonial administrator. He was known for his activities in Balochistan, where he introduced a system of "tribal pacification" that endured until the partition ...

and

Richard John Meade General Sir Richard John Meade (25 September 1821 – 20 March 1894) was a British Indian Army officer who served as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore from 1870 to 1881. Military career Meade was born at Innishannon County Cork to Captain John ...

. He was a member and sometime chairman of the

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

magistrates bench, and vice-president of

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

at the time of his death.

Works

*
General Sir Richard Meade and the Feudatory States of Central and Southern India
' (1898) *
Colonel Sir Robert Sandeman: His Life and Work on Our Indian Frontier
' (1895) *Historical Note, in Goulding, Henry Raynor & Thornton, Thomas Henry,
Old Lahore: Reminiscences of a Resident
' (1924)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Thomas Henry 1832 births 1913 deaths People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Indian civil servants British India judges English justices of the peace Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society

Biography

Archives

Works

References