Henry Sykes Thornton (1800–1881) was an English banker, son of Henry Thornton (1760–1815). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834.
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Early life and Clapham Sect background
Thornton (born 28 May 1800) was the eldest son and second child of banker and reformer, Henry Thornton and his wife Marianne Sykes; Marianne Thornton was his elder sister. He was born into the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelical Anglicans also noted as abolitionists. The family home was Battersea Rise, on the west side of Clapham Common in Surrey.
Thornton was educated at Harrow School. In 1818 he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1822, M.A. in 1825. Here, he began what was to become a lifelong friendship with Thomas Babington Macaulay, the son of another member of the Clapham Sect, Zachary Macaulay. He retained his evangelical contacts, playing a part in 1847, via Robert John Eden, in the appointment of Charles Perry as the first Bishop of Melbourne.
Career
Thornton went into banking on the advice of his uncle Daniel Sykes. In 1822 he started work at his late father's bank, Pole, Thornton, Free, Down & Scott, at the time prospering. Thomas Joplin, in hindsight, thought it one of the biggest banking firms in London. The partners were Edward Down, Peter Free, Sir Peter Pole, 2nd Baronet and John Scott. In 1825, as a partner, he found that the bank was "heavily compromised by poor investments". In early December of that year, it failed in the Panic of 1825. John Horsley Palmer after the event was of the view that the banking issue was over-investment in illiquid securities, given the resources of the partners. The anonymous author "A Manufacturer" of an 1826 pamphlet sought to lay the blame on Henry Thornton the elder.