Henry THORNTON appears in the 1841 as a student at the school of Thomas Walton on Albany Road, Camberwell (south-west London, and at the time in the county of Surrey). The census states that he was 15, a pupil, and born in 'N S Wales'.
Who was he and his family? How did they come to be in NSW and what became of them?
Henry Thornton (senior) came to Australia as commander of the 40th Regiment of Foot (Somerset).
Thornton was born abt 1780 in Melton Mowbray, Leics, fourth son of Thomas-Lee Thornton of the Thornton of Brockhall family (the family home Brockhall still stands). He entered the military in 1796, became Captain in the 40th Foot later that year, and Major in 1802. In 1811 he became Lieutenant-colonel in the regiment. He commanded the 1st battalion of the 40th during some of its most arduous service in the Peninsula, and received the gold cross for Talavera, Nivlle, Orthez and Toulouse, in addition to the silver medal with seven clasps and a Companionship of the Bath, to which he was appointed on 4th January 1815. He missed the Battle of Waterloo as he was called as a witness at a general court martial in London, but commanded the regiment from that time until 1827 when he exchanged into the 82nd Regiment. He retired in 1828, and died at Camberwell aged 77 in April 1856. The 40th, with Thornton in charge, arrived in New South Wales in 1823. Henry married Louisa LADEWIG (also LUDWIG) in Sydney in Dec 1825 (more on Louisa later):
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Thu 29 Dec 1825
MARRIED, On Tuesday, the 20th instant, at St. Phillip's Church,
Sydney, Colonel THORNTON, C.B. commanding His Majesty's
Fortieth Regiment, to Miss LOUISA LADEWIG of Sydney.
The NSW BDM baptism indexes show two children born to the couple, a girl in 1825 named Lucy A (7249/1825 V18257249 1B), and a boy Henry A in 1826 (V18267415 1C/1826). The latter birth was announced in the Sydney Gazette (15 Mar 1826): BIRTH On Sunday last, the Lady of Colonel THORNTON of a son.
The chronology suggests the marriage was somewhat urgent. Two months later the family of four departed New South Wales for England, and Thornton retired from the military the subsequent year as outlined earlier:
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Wed 17 May 1826
On Sunday the Mangles sailed for England, with
a cargo of Colonial produce. Passengers, Colonel
Thornton and Lady, 2 children, and 2 servants.
While Henry then appears at school in the 1841 England census, his parents and sister (Lucy A) were living in the family home, also in Camberwell, Surrey :
Notably, Lucy A Thornton is stated to NOT have been born in the County, but no further elaboration on her place of birth is provided, and this is likely an example of many other Australian-born individuals recorded in the 1841 census. Also revealed in this census is that Henry and Louisa had a third child, a daughter Julia, born Sept 20, 1827, and baptized at St George, Camberwell:
Henry senior and Loiusa appear in the 1851 census, still living in Camberwell (Rebecca Adams remains a female servant to the family). Henry died on 30 Feb, 1856, and he is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London (photo of headstone desired). Following Henry senior's death, Louisa re-married in 1858 (Enfield All Saints, Edmonton) to John Taylor, and her fate beyond this date has not been determined. In her church marriage entry, Louisa states her father's name to be "Frederick Ludwig, Gentleman". In the 1851 census Louisa nee LADEWIG/LUDWIG states her place of birth to be Rochester, Kent (~1800). Apart from the aforementioned, little can be ascertained about Louisa and how she came to be in NSW in 1825, though convict indexes do not provide a solution. Intriguingly, Northamptonshire Record Office hold a 'bundle of correspondence' including "1 letter dated 18/7/1920 from F.H. Thornton to (T) W. Thornton of Brockhall with remarks about H.A.Thornton's wife in Australia."
Henry and Louisa's third child Julia married John Edmonstone Monckton in 1849 and died in India at some point in the 1850s.
Henry (born in NSW in 1826) appears in the 1851 census as Henry A, living at 45 Lincolns Inn Fields in London, an attorney and solicitor. The National Archives (UK) holds bundles of correspondence "being letters to Henry Australia Thornton from members of his family upon the death of his father Col. Henry Thornton". These would be instructive, but also reveal Henry's middle name to be Australia, highlighting the importance the family placed on Henry's relatively unique place of birth. In 1859, Henry died aged 32, and was buried at Kensal Green (whether or not headstone exists is not known):
Henry's probate packet states that an executor was his younger sister, also born in Australia, Lucy Adelaide Thornton. Again, the connection to Australia is possible in Lucy's name, and suggests pride in the colonial origins. In 1851, Lucy was with her uncle, the Rector of Brockhall in Northampton, and in 1859 she married Oxford-educated John Pendrill Mackenzie in Camberwell as 'the only surviving child to the late Colonel Henry Thornton'. Lucy gave birth to at least two daughters, Lucy Eleanor (died 1939) and Margaret Pendrill (died 1929), both of whom were spinsters. Lucy died in 1870 aged 45, and is buried at All Souls Kensall Green (whether or not headstone exists is not known).
References:
- Genealogy indexes including NSW BDM, London baptism marriage and burial records (Ancestry.com), England census records (Ancestry.com), England probate records, (Ancestry.com), British newspaper archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), National Library of Australia digitized newspapers (trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper).
- Wellington's Men Remembered Volume 2: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers, Janet Bromley, David Bromley.
- Historical Records of the 40th (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment, Raymond Henry Raymond Smythies, 1894.
- UK National Archives search: Northamptonshire Record Office, Th 1683, Th 1684, Th 1685. Bundles of Correspondence to and from Henry Australia Thornton.
- History of the Mackenzies: With Genealogies of the Principal Families of the Name, Alexander Mackenzie, A. & W. Mackenzie, 1894
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