Sir Edward Thornton

Sir Edward Thornton (1817–1906) was the son of the diplomat of the same name who had served in Washington around 1800. Educated at King’s College London and Pembroke College, Cambridge, he entered diplomacy at Turin in 1842. Mexican and River Plate assignments followed. He assisted peace negotiations after the American occupation of Mexico and later worked on river navigation and the restoration of British relations with Brazil. ¹

His long Washington mission placed him among the negotiators of the Treaty of Washington, signed on 8 May 1871. The treaty sent the Alabama claims arising from Confederate cruisers to arbitration at Geneva. It also set out rules requiring neutral governments to prevent their territory from supplying or equipping belligerent naval operations. Thornton signed as one of five British commissioners. The British delegation also included Canadian prime minister John A. Macdonald. ²

Thornton also adjudicated disputes in which Britain was not a party. As umpire between the American and Mexican claims commissioners, he decided the Pious Fund claim concerning support for the Catholic Church in California. His award assigned the California claimants half the fund’s annual income for the period under review, totaling $904,700.79. The sum was paid, but a renewed dispute arose over subsequent installments. ³

He moved to St. Petersburg in 1881. There he handled the Afghan frontier dispute as Russian expansion culminated in the 1885 Panjdeh crisis. His transfer to Constantinople was delayed until 1886; after a short mission, he made way for William White, whose Balkan experience the government preferred. Thornton retired in 1887, worked in commercial and organizations representing holders of foreign bonds, and died in London in 1906. ¹