Samuel Thornton was an Anglican bishop in the late quarter of the 19th century and the start of the 20th. [1]
Thornton was born in London [2] on 16 April 1835 [3] and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Queen's College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1859 [4] and after a spell at the London Diocesan Home Mission became Vicar of St Jude's, Whitechapel. From 1864 to 1875 he was Rector of St George's, Birmingham. In 1875 [5] he was appointed Bishop of Ballarat, [6] a post he held until 1900. [7] On his return to England he became Vicar of Blackburn [8] and an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Manchester. He became a notable proponent of British Israelism. He died on 25 November 1917. [9]
