Edward Thornton (cricketer)

Edward Thornton, 3rd Count of Cacilhas (27 October 1893 – 18 October 1970) was an English first-class cricketer, British Army and Royal Air Force officer.

Edward Thornton
Personal information
Full name
Edward Thornton
Born27 October 1893
Pease Pottage, Sussex, England
Died18 October 1970(1970-10-18) (aged 76)
Stockport, Cheshire, England
BattingUnknown
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 1
Runs scored 59
Batting average 29.50
100s/50s –/–
Top score 38
Catches/stumpings –/–
Source: Cricinfo, 15 March 2019

Early life

Thornton was born at Woodhurst, Pease Pottage, Sussex, son of Edward Thornton (1856-1904), a diplomat who worked in Buenos Aires, Russia and the United States, and Emma Jessie, daughter of Philip Rawson, DL, of Woodhurst, Sussex. His grandfather was the diplomat Edward Thornton, 2nd Count of Cacilhas; on his grandfather's death in 1906, Thornton succeeded to the title as 3rd Count of Cacilhas (also "Cassilhas") due to his father's death two years earlier.[1][2]

Career

Thornton served during the First World War with the Royal Fusiliers, holding the rank of temporary lieutenant in August 1916.[3] He was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in November 1916, as an observer with the rank of flying officer.[4] He was promoted to the rank of captain in September 1918,[5] by which point the Royal Flying Corps had been amalgamated into th newly formed Royal Air Force, along with the Royal Naval Air Service.

He remained in the Royal Air Force into the 1940s, serving during the Second World War, during which he retired in March 1945, retaining the rank of group captain.[6]

Cricket career

Following the war, he made one appearance in first-class cricket for the Combined Services cricket team against Essex at Leyton in 1921.[7] Batting twice in the match, Thornton scored 21 runs in the Combined Services first-innings, before being dismissed by Joseph Dixon, while in their second-innings he was dismissed by the same bowler for 38 runs.[8]

Personal life

In 1922, Thornton married Marjorie Gabriel Pike, daughter of W. R. Pike;[9][10] they had three sons - Edward Peter, Christopher, and David - and a daughter, (Marjorie) Jean, who married Royal Navy lieutenant Ralph Carnac Baker Stallard-Penoyre (1913-1943), of a landed gentry family of Herefordshire.[11] He was killed in the explosion of HMS Dasher (D37), and is memorialised at Ardrossan.[12][13]

Thornton died at Stockport in October 1970.

References
  1. Burke's Great War Peerage, Burke's Peerage and Gentry (UK) Ltd, 2008 [a reprint of A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, 76th edition, ed. Ashworth P. Burke, Harrison & Sons, 1914], p. 2112
  2. William Thomas Thornton's family, ancestry, and early years: Some Findings from recently discovered manuscripts and letters, Mark Donoghue, in History of Political Economy, vol. 40, issue 3, 2008 pp. 516-517
  3. "No. 29694". The London Gazette. 4 August 1916. p. 7679.
  4. "No. 30311". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 September 1917. p. 10002.
  5. "No. 30911". The London Gazette. 20 September 1918. p. 11197.
  6. "No. 37280". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1945. p. 4743.
  7. "First-Class Matches played by Edward Thornton". CricketArchive.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. "Essex v Combined Service, 1921". CricketArchive.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  9. The Aeroplane and Aeronautics, vol. 23, 1922, p. 505
  10. Flight International, vol. 14, 1923, p. 776
  11. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952, p. 2008
  12. "Lieutenant Ralph Carnac Baker Stallard-Penoyre | War Casualty Details 2455336". Cwgc.org. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  13. "Ralph Carnac Baker Stallard-Penoyre". Wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
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