Early Life
Robert Thornton was the eldest son of
Robert Thornton, the Rector of
Birkin in Yorkshire; the name of his mother is not known. He was born on the 9
th of February 1623 at
Coxwold in Yorkshire North Riding.
Career
Robert went up to
Pembroke college, Cambridge on the 5
th of May 1641. He was ordained in 1662 and succeeded his father as the Rector of Birkin from 1665 to his own death in 1698.
Family Life
Robert married a
Clare or
Clara1, but her surname is not known. They had:
- John
- William, in holy orders, subsequent rector of Birkin, who died in 1718
- Margaret, bapt. 1654, who married the Rev. Robert Banks, M.A. prebendary of Stillington
Death
Robert died on the 2
nd of February 1697/8, a year after his wife Clara. The
Clergy of the Church of England Database has an alternative death date of 24
th May 1698. He was succeeded as Rector of Birkin by his son William.
GenUKI reports that a memorial stands at
St Mary's church in Birkin dedicated to the three generations of Thorntons who were rector:
En Filium, Patrem, Avum, hujus Ecclesiae successive Rectores. Quorum in societate amaenitas facilisq : accesses, in amicitifides, in pauperes munificentia, in omnes hospitalitas studiumq : pads, ita suis dilectos reddiderunt parochianis, ut nomen Thorntonianum bene audiat.
Which approximateley means:
"Son, father and grandfather were successive rectors of this church. They were loved by their parishioners, who erected this monument to preserve the name of the Thorntons for posterity."
shissem.com records an additional inscription from Robert's tomb:
[Robert] lived happily about forty-five years with his wife, Mrs. Clare Thornton, a virtuous charitable and hospitable house-keeper, by whom he had nine children, buried her 3rd December, 1696, aged 65 years, and himself was laid with her, 2nd February, 1697, in the 74th year of his age.
The web-page gives the source of this information as
Burke's Commoners (aka Landed Gentry first edition) but I've not found any entry for this Thornton family in that document.
Footnotes
[1] The only evidence we have of her name is from Foster's
Yorkshire Pedigrees, repeated also in Burke's
Landed Gentry. I can find no marriage records to help identify her further.
1623 - 1698 (74 years)
[1, 2, 3] 
