was appointed rector of Orcheston St. Mary, Wiltshire, in 1575; of Marnhull, Dorset, in 1577, and of Chilmark, Wiltshire, in 1578. Soon afterwards he became chaplain in ordinary to Elizabeth, and on 14 July 1585 was installed in the prebend of Bedminster and Ratcliffe in the cathedral of Salisbury. On 28 Oct. 1589 he was elected dean of York, and on 17 March 1589–90 obtained the prebend of Tockerington in that church, which he retained till 1616. On 20 Sept. 1593 he was appointed bishop of Limerick, to which in 1601 was added the rectory of Kirby Misperton in Yorkshire, and in the following year that of Brandesburton in the same county. In Ireland he showed himself zealous on behalf of the crown, and in consequence was enthroned bishop of Bristol on 23 Aug. 1603 (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603–10, p. 415). On 25 Jan. 1616–17, in spite of the candidature of Henry Beaumont, Buckingham's kinsman, he was elected bishop of Worcester.
Thornborough showed much activity in his last diocese in putting the law into execution against recusants, and in aiding the crown to raise money by forced loans and other exactions. He died at Hartlebury, Worcestershire on 9 or 19 July 1641, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral. He was twice married. By his first wife he had issue Benjamin Thornborough, knighted at Newmarket on 23 Nov. 1618; and Edward Thornborough, collated archdeacon of Worcester on 3 Aug. 1629, who died in 1645. By his second wife, Elizabeth Bayles of Suffolk, he had Thomas Thornborough of Elmley Lovet, Worcestershire, knighted at Whitehall on 11 Feb. 1629–30.
Thornborough was the author of: 1. ‘A Discourse plainly proving the evident Utility and urgent Necessity of the desired happy Union of England and Scotland,’ London, 1604, 4to. 2. ‘The joyful and blessed reuniting the two mighty and famous Kingdoms of England and Scotland,’ Oxford, 1605, 4to. 3. ‘Λιθοθεωρικός sive Nihil, Aliquid, Omnia, Antiquorum Sapientum vivis coloribus depicta, Philosophico-theologice, in gratiam eorum qui Artem auriferam Physico-chymice et pie profitentur,’ Oxford, 1621, 4to. 4. ‘The Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ, touching the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood,’ Oxford, 1630, 4to. 5. ‘A Discourse showing the great Happiness that hath, and may still, accrue to His Majesty's Kingdoms of England and Scotland by reuniting them into one Great Britain,’ London, 1641, 4to.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 314, iii. 3, 6, 51; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 297; Bloxam's Registers of Magdalen College, iv. 175; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Chambers's Worcestershire, p. 89; Ware's Works concerning Ireland, ed. Harris, i. 511; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, passim; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. iii. 251, 299; Strype's Annals, 1824, iv. 292, 293; Strype's Life of Whitgift, ii. 518; Fuller's Worthies, p. 151; Lansdowne MS. 985, ff. 9, 26, 30; Notes and Queries, 9th ser. ii. 484.]
THORNBROUGH, Sir EDWARD (1754–1834), admiral, son of Commander Edward Thornbrough (d. 1784), was born at Plymouth Dock on 27 July 1754, and went to sea in 1761 as servant to his father, then first lieutenant of the Arrogant of 74 guns, in the Mediterranean. In her he continued for two years, and for the next five was borne on the books of the Firm guardship at Plymouth, during which time he was presumably at school. In 1768 his name was put on the books of the Téméraire, also a guardship, though in 1770 she went out to Gibraltar. In 1771 he was similarly borne on the books of the Albion at Spithead. In April 1771 he joined the Captain going out to North America with the flag of Rear-admiral John Montagu [q. v.], the boy's father being her second lieutenant. On 15 April 1773 he was promoted by Montagu to be lieutenant of the Cruizer, and in September was moved back to the Captain, which was paid off in August 1774. In October he was appointed to the Falcon sloop, in which he again went out to North America. The Falcon was one of the ships that covered the attack on Bunker's Hill on 17 June 1775. On 8 Aug., while endeavouring to bring off a schooner that the Falcon had driven on shore, several of the party were killed, and Thornbrough, with many others, was wounded. He was sent home, invalided; and in March 1776 he joined the Richmond frigate, again on the North American station, in which he continued till she was paid off in July 1779. In September Thornbrough joined the guardship in the Downs; in April 1780 he was appointed to the Flora with Captain William Peere Williams (afterwards Freeman) [q. v.], and was her first lieutenant when she captured the French frigate Nymphe off Ushant on 10 Aug. 1780.
For this action Thornbrough was promoted, 14 Sept. 1780, to command the Britannia, a small hired ship employed in the protection of trade in the North Sea and in convoy service to North America. On 24 Sept. 1781 he was posted by Rear-admiral Thomas Graves (afterwards Lord Graves) [q. v.] to the Blonde frigate, which in July 1782 was wrecked near Seal Island, on her
