The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Thornton, Hon. George
Thornton, Hon. George, M.L.C., was born in Macquarie Street, Sydney, on Dec. 28th, 1820, and educated at Cape's School and at the Australian College. He was for some years a custom-house and ship agent, and was an alderman and twice mayor of the city of Sydney. He sat in the Assembly as member for Sydney in 1858, and was at one time member for the Western Goldfields. Mr. Thornton, who was appointed to the Upper House in Oct. 1877, managed the agency of the New South Wales Government in London for upwards of a year. He was offered the post of Executive Commissioner to the Philadelphia Exhibition, but was obliged to decline. Mr. Thornton was Secretary for Mines in the Dibbs Ministry from Oct. to Dec. 1885. He married in 1840, Mary Anne, daughter of John Solomon.