Joseph Thornton (contractor)

Joseph Thornton (1804 - 9 May 1889) was a railway contractor in England in the mid-nineteenth century. He was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain and was a director of a number of companies connected to his profession. He lived at Beaver Hall in Southgate near London with his large family and servants but left an estate of only £545.

Beaver Hall The Seat of John Locke Esq. Southgate Middlesex. John Hassell, London, 1804.[1]

Early life and family

Joseph Thornton was born in 1804 in Snaith, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.[2] He married Amelia with whom he had at least six children.[3]

Career

Thornton was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain. He was also a director of companies such as the Water-Works Company for Madrid (1852),[4] the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway (1856)[5] and the Mercantile Credit Association (Limited) (1864).[6]

He and his family lived at Beaver Hall, Southgate,[7][8] from at least 1858.[9] The 1861 census shows him there with his wife Amelia and six children (one visiting with her husband), a governess, lady's maid, nurse, cook, butler, footman, and four other maids.[3] In 1871, he was shown as widowed and living in Kensington but the family still had four servants.[10]

Later life

By 1881, Thornton was retired and lodging with the Newman family at Kensington Park Road, London.[11] He died there, at number 98, on 9 May 1889. Probate was granted to his son, Frederic William Thornton, a mechanical engineer of 100 Palace Chambers, Bridge Street, in the City of Westminster. He left an estate of £545.[12]

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References
  1. Beaver Hall, Southgate. published 1 Jun 1804. Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. Joseph Thornton England and Wales Census, 1871. Family Search. Retrieved 19 January 2019. (subscription required)
  3. Joseph Thornton England and Wales Census, 1861. Family Search. Retrieved 19 January 2018. (subscription required)
  4. "Water-Works Company for Madrid", The Railway Record, 6 March 1852, p. 16.
  5. "Ambergate, Nottingham, and Boston." Herapath's Railway Journal, 6 September 1856, p. 938.
  6. A selected list of companies, foreign loans, and miscellaneous projects, many of which were issued under the auspices of A. Grant, shewing the nominal amount of capital, and price of issue, as taken from each prospectus, etc. London: Grobecker. 1872. p. 14.
  7. "Some Account of Southgate" by C. Edgar Thomas in The Home Counties Magazine, Vol. XI, 1909. pp. 167-181 (p. 176).
  8. Pam, David. (1982) Southgate and Winchmore Hill: A Short History. London: Broomfield Museum. p. 13.
  9. Crosthwaite, John Clarke. (1858). The History of Esther an Illustration of Providence. Twelve Lectures, Delivered in the Church of St. Mary at Hill, London, in the Year 1852 &c. London: Rivingtons. p. xv.
  10. Joseph Thornton England and Wales Census, 1871. Family Search. Retrieved 19 January 2018. (subscription required)
  11. Joseph Thornton England and Wales Census, 1881. Family Search. Retrieved 19 January 2018. (subscription required)
  12. 1889 Probate Calendar. Retrieved 19 January 2019.


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