William Lockwood Thornton
William Lockwood Thornton [1]
a Wesleyan minister, was born in Yorkshire, Jan. 27, 1811, and. was a pupil of the venerable James Sigston, Leeds. He was accepted at the Conference in 1830, receiving as his first circuit an appointment to Glasgow, where he remained but a year, and in 1831 was stationed at Hull After a three years residence in that north-eastern seaport, he was removed to the First London Circuit in1834, from thence to the Leeds East Circuit in 1837, and to Bath in 1838. After a three years location at Bath, Mr. Thornton's itinerant career terminated, and in 1841 he became the resident classical tutor of the first theological institute established in Methodism, which, commencing at Hoxton, was afterwards divided between Richmond and Didsbury; and in 1842 he went to its northern branch, near Manchester. He remained there till 1849, when he was appointed editor of the Wesleyan periodicals. In 1864 Mr. Thornton represented the British Conference at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; he then proceeded to Canada, and presided over that conference, and also over that in Eastern British America. On his return home, he was elected president of the British Conference, but died very suddenly, in his presidential year, March 5,1865. Mr. Thornton was a man of fine talents and thorough culture. In early life he had given himself to hard and systematic study. As a preacher he was eloquent, his style finished and elegant; as an editor he was industrious and successful.
