Colonel Sir John Hardy Thursby, 1st Baronet (31 August 1826 – 16 March 1901) was a British landowner, military officer, and sportsman.
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Life
Born on 31 August 1826, he was the eldest son of the Rev. William Thursby and Eleanor Mary Hargreaves. His father was vicar of All Saints' Church, Northampton at that time. He had one older sister and five younger brothers, and was educated at Eton College. As a teenager, at Easter 1843, he assisted Studley Martin in excavating an ancient burial site on the moors east of Burnley, Lancashire. The interment urn that they discovered, remained with the family. Thursby's sister Eleanor Anne died, aged 19, in early April 1845.
Opting for a military career, he served in the 90th Light Infantry for eight years, joining as Ensign in September 1845, and obtaining the rank of Lieutenant in November 1848. In the build-up to the Crimean War, in June 1853, he briefly joined the 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own) as Captain, before moving to the (newly-raised) 7th Royal Lancashire Militia (Rifles) as Major in April 1855. Staying with the Bury-based regiment until March 1870, the following November he took over command of the Burnley-based 5th Royal Lancashire Militia with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The next September, he was given the honorary rank of Colonel, and he retained the command until retirement at the end of July 1879. He then became the regiment's Honorary Colonel.
Through his mother and maternal aunt Charlotte (the wife of General Sir James Yorke Scarlett), Thursby inherited control of The Executors of John Hargreaves, a coal-mining business. The company, later known as Hargreaves Collieries was, by far, the largest mine owner on the Burnley Coalfield.