Thornton was born in Logansport in Indiana on 6 November 1871 and
died in New York on 14 March 1933
(Marshall).
Allen (in both his histories of the GER and
the LNER) is strong on this fascinating personality, and the significance
of a major might-have-been if Thotnton had been offered the post of Chief
General Manager on the LNER. Allen actually worked directly for Thornton
in producing statistics in graphical form for him during his general managership
of the Great Eastern. His appoinment at the age of 41 must be regarded as
one of Lord Claude Hamilton's great achievements. The Great Eastern Board
had clearly been shocked by the Midland's acquistion of the Tilbury line
and sought more dynamic management in the shape of an American, who had been
General Superintendent of the Long Island Rail Road. He was strong on technical,
traffic and adminstrative qualifications, and his experience of electrification
might be useful. He was appointed in May 1914. He was a big and burly figure
with a fresh-complexioned face and was accessible to staff. He instigated
higher levels of remuneration for the senior staff and this was to create
problems following the Grouping. He was a great believer in the creation
of specific committees to address particular problems: there was a timetable
committee, for instance. In 1917, following the retirement of Horace Wilmer,
Thornton additionally took over the role of Chief Engineer, but in March
1919 he relinquished this role when John Miller, who had also served on the
Long Island Rail Road, took over the Chief Engineer's duties.
Bonavia (A history of the
LNER) notes that during 1922 J.H. Thomas (one time
General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen and then Secretary
of State for the Dominions) had invited Thornton to become President of the
newly-formed Canadian National Railways, an offer which Thornton accepted
but probably lived to regret. But it now seems likely that Thornton might
have preferred to stay in England and that for a time he toyed with a bold
idea of detaching the Great Eastern's suburban lines from the rest of the
undertaking and associating them with the London Underground Group and the
Metropolitan Railway — and in the process providing a very exalted position
for himself. This emerged in an article by Michael Robbins [Journal of
the Railway and Canal Historical Society, Vol. XXV No. 3, September 1979]
discussing the significance of some long-overlooked papers, which came into
the possession of C. E. Whitworth, Principal Assistant to the General Manager
of the Eastern Region of BR when the headquarters offices of the Region were
being transferred to York. It is fascinating to speculate upon the possible
consequences ofThornton becoming so closely associated with Lord Ashfield
of the Underground and Lord Aberconway of the Metropolitan — both, to
say the least of it, very strong personalities. Thorntou's proposal, which
seems to have been discussed with a group of American financiers, involved
electrification of the GER suburban lines and a new connecting 'Tube' into
the West End of London, together with the redevelopment of Liverpool Street
Station and erection of a major office block on the site — all schemes
which have either been carried out or revived since nationalisation. However,
this 'escape hatch' apparently did not work and shortly afterwards Thornton
accepted the Canadian offer, thus making it easier for the North Eastern
Railway Board to ensure that their nominee would be the first chief executive
of the future LNER.
It is tempting to postulate what might have become of the Great Eastern
under Thornton if there had been no World War and no amalgamation in 1923.
The LNER, under its coal and steel orientated Board, considered suburban
development an alien occupation. In consequence, suburban development in
Essex and Hertfordshire remained less advanced than in the Metropolitan's
Chilterns and Sir Herbert Walker's Southern. Earlier electric trains to the
fringes of the Epping Forest and to the Blackwater and Clacton might have
balanced development elsewhere: Harlow might have been a middle class suburb,
rather than a new town. The Buntingford branch might still be with us and
Hertford might have become another Guildford. The obituary in J. Instn
Loco. Engrs., 1933, 23, 600 states that Thornton died on his birthday,
but this at variance with the data in Who Was Who and in Marshall.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's encyclopedia
