Joseph Thornton (1804 - 9 May 1889) was a railway contractor in England in the mid-nineteenth century. He was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain and was a director of a number of companies connected to his profession. He lived at Beaver Hall in Southgate near London with his large family and servants but left an estate of only £545.
Joseph Thornton was born in 1804 in Snaith, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[1] He married Amelia with whom he had at least six children.
Thornton was in business building railway lines for the many railway companies in Victorian Britain. He was also a director of companies such as the Water-Works Company for Madrid (1852),[2] the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway (1856)[3] and the Mercantile Credit Association (Limited) (1864).[4]
He and his family lived at Beaver Hall, Southgate,[5] [6] from at least 1858.[7] The 1861 census shows him there with his wife Amelia and six children (one visiting with her husband), a governess, lady's maid, nurse, cook, butler, footman, and four other maids.[8] In 1871, he was shown as widowed and living in Kensington but the family still had four servants.[9]
By 1881, Thornton was retired and lodging with the Newman family at Kensington Park Road, London.[10] He died there, at number 98, on 9 May 1889. Probate was granted to his son, Frederic William Thornton, a mechanical engineer of 100 Palace Chambers, Bridge Street, in the City of Westminster. He left an estate of £545.[11]