Joseph Thornton (contractor)

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]

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]