The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-29 00:00:00

The Late Mr. Thornton.

Although we yesterday directed attention to the
recent death of Mr. Thornton, the Father of the
Reporters' Gallery in the House of Commons—we
cannot but give the following earnest and graceful
tribute to his memory precisely as it appears in the
Times of this morning :

Our obituary column on Tuesday announced the death
of Mr. Thomas Thornton, who, for the last 40 years, has
been a valued member of our permanent staff, and whose
disappearance from the Reporters' Gallery has, no doubt,
been observed by many members of Parliament. Mr.
Thornton entered the service of the Times in 1825, and for
many years was engaged in reporting the proceedings of the
ecclesiastical and maritime courts—his accuracy and sound
judgment obtaining the frequent approbation of the Bench
and the Bar. During this period, beyond his con-
tributions to the Times, he published a valuable series of
law reports, which, under the title of " Notes of Cases,"
are still habitually quoted as an authority. About 20 years
ago Mr. Thornton began to write the summary of the
debates in the House of Commons for this journal, and
few of our readers whose interest in political events leads
them to turn their eyes first to that portion of the
paper, can have an adequate idea of the rare combina-
tion of faculties—the patient labour, and the fine ap-
preciation—required to condense into a space rarely
exceeding a column, the essence of an eight or ten
hours' debate, which, reported at full length, occu-
pies, perhaps, three or four pages. Mr. Thornton's sum-
maries were always remarkable for neatness, accuracy,
and comprehensive grasp of the subject. While no space
was wasted by travelling unnecessarily into details or re-
producing mere beauties of expression, no material point,
no argument by which a speaker enforced his views or
justified his vote, was left unnoticed ; and, however
numerous or varied the questions under discussion might
be, ho supplied next morning a perfect indux of the debate,
by the aid of which every reader could refer to the subject
or the speech in which his interest lay. In this post Mr.
Thornton continued until far advanced in his 80th
year, without any perceptible failing of mental or bodily
vigour. During all this period he was only absent from
the gallery for a few days in the Session of 1863, and his
retirement at the end of last Session was prompted more
by the assurance that he had full earned his retiring pen-
sion than any consciousness of incapacity for work.
To the last the all-important faculties of hearing,
sight, and quickness of apprehension remained un-
diminished ; and in the power of enduring the fatigue
of a long sitting, and the freshness with which at two
o'clock in the morning he would reproduce the pith
of a speech in reply, gathering together all the tangled
skeins of the debate, his colleagues delighted to com-
pare him to Lord Palmerston, whom he survived but a
few months. His habit was to take his seat in the Gal-
lery at half-past four, and there ho remained until all
the important business of the night was disposed of
with Lan unrelaxing attention, which but for the example
of *our late Premier must have been doomed im-
possible in a man of his advanced age. Of his personal
qualities a few words may be fitly said here. By all the
" Gallery." he was regarded with affectionate respect, and
by his owu colleagues with a feeling even warmer, for it
mattered little whether the man at his side were within a
decade or two of his own standing, or a novice of a few
months,—the stores of his long experience and wide infor-
mation were equally at their disposal, and all were treated
with the same unvarying kindness and consideration.

THE ART UNION OF LONDON.—The Right Hon.
Lord Houghton, D.C.L., has been appointed president of
this association, in place of the Right Hon. Lord Monteagle,
d ecened.