1048
THOENTON— THOENYCROPT.
Charg^ d' Affaires and Consul-Gene- ral to the Bepublic of New Qranada in May, 1854, but was transferred to the Oriental Bepublic of the Uruguay in Sept. of the same year. He was appointed Minister Pleni- potentiary to the Argentine Con- federation of 1859 J in July, 1865, he was sent on a special mission to the Emperor of Brazil, and in the following month he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Brazil. He retained this post until Sept. 1867, when he was transferred in the same capacity to the court of the King of Portugal. He, how- ever, did not proceed thither, but was appointed in the following Dec. to the post of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Washington, in the place of the late Hon. Sir Frederick Bruce, G.C.B. In recognition of his diplo- matic services he was made a Com- panion of the Bath (civil division) in Feb. 1863 ; and a Knight Com- mander of the same order, Aug. 9, 1870. He was sworn of the Ptivy Council, Aug. 19, 1871. Sir Ed- ward Thornton was appointed Am- bassador at St. Petersburg in May, 1881, and was created a G.C.B. in Aug. 1883.
THORNTON, The Eight Eev. Samtjbl, D.D., born in London in 1835, was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, and at Queen's College, Oxford, where he gained a feUowsWp (B.A. 1856 ; M.A. 1858). He became a missionary of the London Diocesan Home Mission in 1858 ; was appointed incumbent of St. Jude's, Whitechapel, in I860; rector of St. George's, Birmingham, in 1864; and Bishop of Ballarat, Australia, on its being taken out of the diocese of Melbourne and constituted a separate see. He was consecrated in Westminster Abbey, May 1, 1875.
THOENYCEOFT, Mrs. Mabt, daughter of the late Mr. John Francis, sculptor, who, when verging towards middle life, settled in Lon-
don, was born in 1814, at Thomhajn, in Norfolk. From an early age she was admitted to his studio, and began to carry on her favourite experiments with the clay. This "waste of time," as it was then called, resulted in increasing manual facility, and she became an exhibitor of heads and busts at the Eoyal Academy, having previously made her first essay in imaginative sculp- ture by a figure of " Penelope." and a group, representing " Ulysses and his Dog." The work which first attract^ the attention of the public was a life-sized statue caUed the " Flower-Girl." Miss Francis became the wife of Mr. Thomycroft, who had been a pupil of her father, in 1840, accompanied him on a tour through Italy in 1842, and at Eome derived great advantage from the advice of Thorwaldsen and Gibson. The latter was struck with her models of " Sappho " and a "Sleep- ing Child," executed during her stay in that city. The " Sleeping Child " made so favourable an im- pression on Mr. Gibson's mind that, when asked by the Queen to point out the best artist to model the portraits of the royal children, he at once mentioned its author. On her return to England in 1843, Mrs. Thomycroft received Her Majesty's conmiand to execute a statue of the Princess Alice, and performed her task so satisfactorily, that commis- sions were g^ven to her for statues of the Princess Eoyal, the Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred. This series, designed by the artist in the character of the four seasons, has become very generally known, having been exhibited at the Eoyal Academy, and engraved. The Queen continued to patronize her, and she executed other works for the royal family. Her admirable work, a " Girl Skipping," was greatly admired in the Paris Exhi- bition of 1855, as a faithful trtm- script from nature, full of grace and elegance, both in idea and execution.
