Henry Thornton , of Battersea Rise, MP for Southwark. Close friend (and also a relative) of Wilberforce. They shared a house in Palace Yard, London until Wilberforce's marriage to Barbara Spooner. He was a Calvinist, a banker, philanthropist and Member of Parliament for Southwark. He bought Battersea Rise House in 1790. This was eventually to become the "headquarters" of the Clapham fellowship. Thornton gave away as much as six-sevenths of his income till he married, and after that at least a third of it. Probably his greatest personal efforts were expended in directing the affairs of the Sierra Leone Company, a Clapham-inspired enterprise to establish a colony of freed slaves in West Africa. Treasurer of the Church Missionary Society. MP for Southwark, 1782-1814. From 1784, partner of London banker, Down, Free and Thornton.
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