John Thornton

Thornton’s family was from Yorkshire, England. His father, Robert, directed the Bank of England. In 1753, he married Lucy Watson and together they had four children.

He invested heavily in the Russian and Baltic trade and acquired wealth that he donated to Christian ministry causes. A devout Anglican, he espoused evangelical causes, regardless of denomination, and his extensive giving included evangelical ministries in various parts of the world.

During his career, Thornton was known to give away half his annual income each year and he gave it to a near-endless number of causes. He paid for the printing and shipping of thousands of Bibles, hymnals, and devotional materials whenever he heard of a need. He also supported a number of clergymen, including the former slave trader John Newton and, through Newton, poet and hymn writer William Cowper. Thornton later brought Newton to London to give him the living of St. Mary, Woolnoth, where he then pastored for more than twenty years.

Thornton gave funds to other church buildings and chapels for the furtherance of the gospel and helped Lady Huntingdon in setting up her training college. He supported colonial preachers Samson Occorn and Nathaniel Whitaker at Moor’s School, an Indian charity school in Connecticut, and helped fund Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He also supported George Whitefield and sent some of Cowper’s poetry overseas to Benjamin Franklin. And there must be far more besides.

Thornton died on November 7, 1790 having suffered a fatal injury at Bath. By the time of his death at age seventy, Thornton was one of the richest men in Europe, despite disbursing hundreds of thousands of pounds throughout his lifetime.