# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Thornton, Edward

​THORNTON, Sir EDWARD (1817–1906), diplomatist, born in London on 13 July 1817, was only surviving son of Sir Edward Thornton, G.C.B. [q. v.]. Educated at King's College, London, and at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he graduated B.A. among the senior optimes in 1840, proceeding M.A. in 1877. He was appointed attaché at Turin, April 1842, paid attaché at Mexico in February 1845, and secretary of legation there December 1853. He witnessed the occupation of Mexico by the United States forces in 1847, and rendered some secretarial assistance in the peace negotiations. He served as secretary to Sir Charles Hotham's special mission to the River Plate (1852–3), which resulted in the conclusion of a convention for the free navigation of the Parana and Uruguay rivers. He was appointed chargé d'affaires and consul-general at Monte Video in 1854, and minister plenipotentiary at Buenos Ayres in 1859. He was made C.B. in 1863 and was accredited to the republic of Paraguay in the same year. In July 1865 he was sent on a special mission to Brazil for the renewal of diplomatic relations (which had been broken off by the Brazilian government in 1863), and received shortly afterwards the definitive appointment of British envoy at Rio de Janeiro. In September 1867 he was nominated British envoy at Lisbon, but within a few days was selected for the difficult post of minister at Washington on the death of Sir Frederick W. A. Bruce [q. v.]. Thornton remained at Washington for over thirteen years. During the earlier period a state of tension existed between the two countries which at times almost threatened an open rupture. The American public resented the recognition by Great Britain of the southern states as belligerents. English sympathy for the South and the depredations of the Alabama and other confederate cruisers, which had escaped from or been received in British ports, increased the soreness of feeling. Other causes of dispute included questions of boundary between the United States and Canada, especially in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca to the south of Vancouver Island, and the exclusion of United States citizens from fishing privileges in the coastal waters of Canada which had been secured to them by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1814, but had been withdrawn in consequence of the denunciation of that treaty by the United States in 1865. Thornton brought to his work much patience and the spirit of calm, fair-minded moderation. But although some of the difficulties were settled, others persisted, and the irritation in the United States tended rather to augment than to diminish. Eventually a joint commission was instituted at Washington in February 1871 for the discussion and settlement of existing differences. Thornton's British colleagues were Earl de Grey (afterwards marquess of Ripon), Sir Stafford H. Northcote (subsequently earl of Iddesleigh), Sir John Alexander Macdonald [q. v.], prime minister of Canada, and Dr. Mountague Bernard [q. v.]. The result was the conclusion of the celebrated Treaty of Washington of 8 May 1871, by which the various outstanding questions and claims were referred to arbitration under specified conditions. Thornton, who was made K.C.B. in 1870, was created a privy councillor in August 1871. Further serious misunderstandings threatened during the progress of the arbitrations, but these were removed, and the eventual settlement did much to lead to more cordial feelings on the part of the United States towards this country. The United States government fully recognised that Thornton had effectively contributed to this result, and paid a tribute to his impartiality and judgment by selecting him in 1870 to act as arbitrator on the claim made on the Brazilian government for compensation on account of the loss of the American merchant vessel Canada on the coast of Brazil, and again from 1873 to 1876 on claims of United States and Mexican citizens. He was warmly thanked for these services, but declined offers of remuneration.
On 26 May 1881 Thornton succeeded Lord Dufferin [q.v. Suppl. II] as British ambassador at St. Petersburg. Here he again found ​himself faced by a situation of increasing gravity. England had watched with growing anxiety the rapid advance of Russia on the east of the Caspian Sea towards the northern frontiers of Persia and Afghanistan. In February 1884 Merv was annexed, notwithstanding repeated assurances given in 1881 that Russia had no such intention and without any previous notice of a change of policy. Thereupon Thornton, in accordance with his instructions, arranged for the delimitation of the northern frontier of Afghanistan by a joint commission. Before the boundary commissioners got to work a Russian and an Afghan force found themselves face to face at Penjdeh, a debatable point on the frontier, and on 30 March 1885, notwithstanding the assurances of the Russian foreign minister, General Komaroff drove the Afghan troops off with considerable loss. A period of extreme tension followed. But in the end an agreement was arrived at by the two governments, a protocol as to the general line of the frontier being signed by Lord Salisbury (who had succeeded Lord Granville as foreign secretary) and by the Russian ambassador, M. de Staal, on 10 Sept. 1885. Thornton had been appointed on 1 Dec. 1884 to succeed Lord Dufferin at Constantinople, but he remained at St. Petersburg during the whole of this trying episode, his place at Constantinople being temporarily filled by Sir William White [q. v.].
Thornton's arrival at Constantinople was delayed until February 1886, in order to leave in White's hands the negotiations consequent on the revolution in Eastern Roumelia, which broke out in September 1885 and the subsequent war between Servia and Bulgaria. A settlement was arrived at, but a fresh serious crisis was created by the abduction and abdication of Prince Alexander in August and September 1886. The cabinet were desirous that White, who had a unique knowledge of Balkan questions, should resume charge of the embassy. Thornton, despite some feeling of mortification, procured the Sultan's acceptance of White's appointment, placed his own resignation in the hands of the government, receiving their thanks for his public spirit, and returned to England. As no embassy was vacant to which he could be appointed, he retired on pension in January 1887. He declined the government's offer of a baronetcy. He had been promoted in 1883 to be G.C.B. He received honorary degrees of D.C.L. and LL.D. respectively from the universities of Oxford and Harvard, U.S.A., and was made hon. fellow of Pembroke. He had inherited on the death of his father in 1852 the title of Count de Cassilhas, which had been conferred on his father by King John VI of Portugal for three lives.
On his return to England Thornton took a considerable part in various commercial undertakings, and was also a member of the council of foreign bondholders, where his experience of South America was of much service. He died at his residence in Chelsea on 26 Jan. 1906.
He married on 15 Aug. 1854 Mary, daughter of John Maitland, and widow of Andrew Melville, by whom he had a son and two daughters. His widow died on 6 Jan. 1907. The son, Edward Thornton (1856–1904), a young diplomatist of great promise, graduated B.A. from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1878, and after serving in Eastern Europe rose to be British minister in Central America, where he succumbed to the climate.
A cartoon portrait of Thornton by 'Ape' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1886.
[The Times, 27 Jan., 6 Feb. 1906; Foreign Office List, 1907, p. 401; Papers laid before Parliament.]
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