Henry Thornton (1760 – 1815), economist, banker, philanthropist and parliamentarian, was the son of John Thornton (philanthropist) (1729–90) of Clapham, Surrey, who had been one of the early supporters and patrons of the emerging evangelical awakening in Britain. Year 1760 ( MDCCLX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap Year 1815 ( MDCCCXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year An economist is an expert in the Social science of Economics. A banker or bank is a Financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money Philanthropy is the act of donating money goods services time and/or effort to support a socially beneficial cause with a defined objective and with no financial or material John Thornton (1720 &ndash 1790 was a Merchant and Christian Philanthropist. Clapham is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth. Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. He was one of the founders of the Clapham Sect and campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade. The Clapham Sect was an influential group of like-minded Church of England social reformers in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century (active c Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history

Early life

At the age of five, Henry attended the school of Mr Davis at Wandsworth Common, and later with Mr Roberts at Point Pleasant, Wandsworth. This article refers only to the town of Wandsworth For the wider area generally referred to as Wandsworth see the separate article on London Borough of Wandsworth. From 1778 he was employed in the counting house of his cousin Godfrey Thornton, two years later joining his father’s company, where he later became a partner.

Career

In 1784 Thornton joined the banking firm of Down and Free of London, later becoming a partner of the company which became known as Down, Thornton and Free. A banker or bank is a Financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money It was under his direction that this became one of the largest banking firms in London, with regional offices in other British cities. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.

In 1782 Henry Thornton had been urged to seek a seat in Parliament, and applied to contest one of the two seats for Hull. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland Kingston upon Hull, often simply referred to as Hull, was a parliamentary constituency in Yorkshire, electing two Members of Parliament to the He soon withdrew on a point of principle, after learning that it was local custom to pay each voter two guineas in order to secure their vote. In September the same year Thornton was elected as member for Southwark, London. Southwark was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. Despite lacking popular appeal, and refusing to bribe voters in a similar way to those of Hull, he became respected as a man of morals and integrity.

As an independent MP, Thornton sided with the Pittites, and in 1783 voted for peace with America. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" In general he tended to support William Pitt, Henry Addington and the Whig administration of William Grenville and Charles Fox. William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 &ndash 23 January 1806 was a British politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Henry Addington 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC (30 May 1757 &ndash 15 February 1844 was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to William Wyndham Grenville 1st Baron Grenville PC (25 October 1759 &ndash 12 January 1834 was a British Whig Statesman and Prime Minister The Right Honourable Charles James Fox ( 24 January 1749 &ndash 13 September 1806) was a prominent British Whig He seldom spoke in the House of Commons, as much of his contribution was in the various parliamentary committees on which he sat. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords See also Committee A Select Committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues

He served on committees to examine the public debt (1798), the Irish exchange (1804), public expenditure (1807) and the bullion committee (1810), which scrutinized the high price of gold, foreign exchange, and the state of the British currency. The report of the committee, written by Thornton, argued for the resumption of gold payments in exchange for notes and deposits, which the Bank of England (of which his elder brother, Samuel Thornton, was a director) had suspended in 1797, but the recommendation was not well-received at the time, and gold redemption on demand was not restored until 1821. The Bank of England (formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England) is a state-owned institution and the Central bank of the United Kingdom In the next few years he continued to press for these measures to be implemented, publishing two reports in 1811.

This period 1797–1810 was a time of major change and great confusion in the British banking system, and the currency crisis of 1797 led to Thornton’s greatest contribution as an economist, for which he is most remembered today. An economist is an expert in the Social science of Economics. In 1802 he wrote An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain, in which he set out to correct common misconceptions, such as the view that the increase in paper credit was the principal cause of the economic ills of the day. This was a work of great importance, and gave a detailed account of the British monetary system as well as a detailed examination of the ways in which the Bank of England should act to counteract fluctuations in the value of the pound. The Bank of England (formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England) is a state-owned institution and the Central bank of the United Kingdom The Pound Sterling ( symbol £; ISO code: GBP) subdivided into 100 pence (singular penny) is the Currency

Legacy

A highly successful merchant banker, as a monetary theorist Henry Thornton has been described as the father of the modern central bank. In banking, a merchant bank is a financial institution primarily engaged in international finance and long-term loans for multinational corporations and governments A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is the entity responsible for the Monetary policy of a country or of a group of member states An opponent of the Real Bills doctrine, he was a defender of the Bullionist position and a significant figure in monetary theory, his process of monetary expansion anticipating the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the "cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form". Johan Gustaf Knut Wicksell ( December 20, 1851 in Stockholm &ndash May 3, 1926 in Stocksund) was a Swedish

His work on 19th century monetary theory has won praise from present-day economists for his forward-thinking ideas, along the lines of those later developed by John Maynard Keynes. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar John Maynard Keynes 1st Baron Keynes CB (ˈkeɪnz "cains" (5 June 1883 &ndash 21 April 1946 was a British Economist whose ideas

Abolitionist and reformer

Henry Thornton was one of the founders of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers and a foremost campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade. The Clapham Sect was an influential group of like-minded Church of England social reformers in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century (active c Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history A close friend and cousin of William Wilberforce, he is credited with being the financial brain behind their many campaigns for social reform and philanthropic causes which the group supported. William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833 was a British Politician, a Philanthropist

In 1791 he played a major part in the establishment of the Sierra Leone Company, which took over the failed attempt by Granville Sharp to create a colony for the settlement for freed slaves in Africa. The Sierra Leone Company was the organisation involved in founding the first African American Colony in Africa in 1792 through the resettlement Granville Sharp ( 10 November 1735 - 6 July 1813) was a British campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade, and As the company’s foremost director, he virtually administered the colony as chairman of the company until responsibility was transferred to the Crown in 1808. Throughout the Commonwealth realms The Crown is an abstract metonymic concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government It was at this time that he became a friend of Zachary Macaulay, who was governor of the colony 1794–99. Zachary Macaulay ( 2 May 1768 &ndash 13 May 1838) was a colonial governor Slavery Abolitionist and campaigner

In 1802 Thornton was one of the founders of the Christian Observer, the Clapham Sect’s journal edited by Zachary Macaulay, to which he contributed many articles. Zachary Macaulay ( 2 May 1768 &ndash 13 May 1838) was a colonial governor Slavery Abolitionist and campaigner He was also involved in supporting the spread of Christian missionary work, including the founding of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East (later the Church Missionary Society) in 1799, and the British and Foreign Bible Society (now the Bible Society) in 1804, of which he became the first president. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. The Church Mission Society, known as the Church Missionary Society in Australia and New Zealand is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Church A Bible society is a non-profit organization (usually Ecumenical in makeup devoted to Translating, publishing distributing the Bible at affordable costs A friend of Hannah More, he assisted in the writing and publication of her Cheap Repository tracts. Hannah More ( February 2, 1745 – September 7, 1833) was an English religious writer and philanthropist

Personal life

In 1796 Thornton married Marianne Sykes (1765–1815), daughter of Joseph Sykes, a merchant from Hull. They had nine children, of which the eldest, Henry Sykes Thornton (1800–1881), succeeded his father in the banking business. One of his great-grandchildren was E.M. Forster (1879–1970), the novelist. Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH (1 January 1879–7 June 1970 was an English novelist Short story writer Essayist, and Librettist

Thornton was buried at St Paul's Church, Rectory Grove, Clapham, where a commemorative plaque records the fact, with an additional reference to the family vault nearby. (A selection of photographs is displayed on the website of the school named after him: www.oldthorntoniansclapham.org.uk)

References

• Pollock, John. Wilberforce: God’s Statesman. (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 2001). ISBN 0-85476-907-2.
• Stott, Anne. Hannah More – The First Victorian (Oxford: University Press, 2003)
• Tolley, Christopher. Henry Thornton in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: University Press, 2005).

Works

• An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain, 1802

See also

• Monetary policy
• Sierra Leone Company
• Abolitionism
• The Clapham Sect

External links

• Henry Thornton, an independent economists website using the nom-de-plume "Henry Thornton"