Thornton was born around 1779,[2] the eldest of two sons born to William Thornton, Esq. of Muff, near Derry, and of Armagh, who died in 1792 at the age of 51, and Anne Thornton, the daughter of Perrott James, Esq. of Magilligan.[3] His younger brother was Robert Innes Thornton (died 1866), a soldier with the 21st Light Dragoons.[1]
Thornton became aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Earl Ludlow, commander of the Kent military district in Spring 1806. Promoted to major on 13 November 1806, he transferred to the Royal York Rangers. He served as acting commanding officer of the regiment in Guernsey in Spring 1807 and then became aide-de-camp to Craig in his capacity as Governor General of British North America later in the year. Promoted to be brevet lieutenant-colonel on 28 January 1808, he became inspecting field-officer of militia in Canada in Spring 1808.[4]
Thornton became commanding officer of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot in August 1811, commanding officer of the Duke of York's Greek Light Infantry Regiment in January 1812[5] and assistant military secretary to the commander-in-chief, the Duke of York later that year. In January 1813 he became commanding officer of the 85th Regiment of Foot and saw action during the Peninsular War.[6]
Thornton was then involved in the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815,[6] at which the only British success was on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where Thornton's brigade, comprising the 85th Regiment and a detachment of one hundred sailors from the Royal Navy and one hundred men of the Royal Marines,[8][9] attacked and overwhelmed the American line.[6][10]
Thornton died of suicide on 30 March 1840 (or 6 April),[3] after having suffered from psychological problems attributed to wounds from the War of 1812.[6] Thornton, who died unmarried, left his estates to his nephew, William Todd, who had already inherited Buncrana Castle, County Donegal, from another uncle, Isaac Todd. On inheriting Thornton's estates William Todd took the additional surname of 'Thornton', becoming William Thornton-Todd.[11]
^Patterson, Benton Rains (2008), The Generals, Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the road to New Orleans, New York: New York University Press, ISBN0-8147-6717-6
^Gleig, George (1840). "Recollections of the Expedition to the Chesapeake, and against New Orleans, by an Old Sub". United Service Journal (2). Gleig, on p340, uses the source document a report from Thornton to Pakenham 'we were unable to proceed across the river until eight hours after the time appointed, and even then with only a third part of the force which you had allotted for the service * viz 298 of the 85th, and 200 Seamen and Marines'
