Anthony Wilson Thorold (13 June 1825 – 25 July 1895) was an
Anglican Bishop of Winchester in the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
. The son of a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
priest, he also served as
Bishop of Rochester. It was in that role that he travelled throughout North America and met with leaders of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
. While he wrote a number of devotional books, he is best remembered for having recruited
Isabella Gilmore
Isabella Gilmore (née Morris; 1842–1923) was an English churchwoman who oversaw the revival of the Deaconess Order in the Anglican Communion. Isabella served actively in the poorest parishes in South London for almost two decades and she is r ...
to revive the
female diaconate in the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
.
Early life
Thorold was the second son of the Reverend Edward Thorold and his wife Mary (''née'' Wilson), and grandson of
Sir John Thorold, 9th Baronet
Sir John Thorold, 9th Baronet (1734–1815) was a British book collector and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1779 to 1796.
Early life
Thorold was the eldest son of Sir John Thorold, 8th Baronet and his wife Elizabeth Ayton, daugh ...
(1734–1815). He was educated privately, entering
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
in 1843; he graduated B.A. 1847, M.A. 1850, was ordained as a deacon in 1849 and as a priest in 1850. He subsequently received a
D.D. by diploma in 1877.
He married Henrietta Greene and followed his father into a career in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
. He served as vicar of
St Giles in the Fields, Curzon Chapel, and
St Pancras. His wife died in 1859 and he married secondly to Emily Labouchère, sister of the MP
Henry Labouchère
Henry Du Pré Labouchère (9 November 1831 – 15 January 1912) was an English politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner in the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras. He is now most remembered for the Labouchere Amendment, Labouchè ...
. They had three children: Algar Labouchère Thorold (1866–1936), Dorothy, and Sybil (later Countess de la Bédoyère). His descendants through Sybil include his grandson
Michael de la Bédoyère and his great-great-grandson, the historian
Guy de la Bédoyère.
In 1870 he was elected a member of the first
London School Board, representing the
Marylebone Division.
His second wife died in 1877, the same year he was made
Bishop of Rochester. Thorold's cousin,
Edward Trollope
Edward Trollope (15 April 1817 – 10 December 1893) was an antiquary and an Anglican Bishop of Nottingham in the Victorian era.
Family background
Trollope was born at Uffington, near Stamford in Lincolnshire, on 15 April 1817, the sixth son ...
, was made
suffragan bishop for
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
also that same year.
Travels
Thorold had extensive travels, preaching in the United States in the late 19th century. During that time he visited
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
at
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
. He recalled that on 1 September 1884, "We went round the new
Mormon Tabernacle, of solid granite, very massively built out of the tithes of the people. It is only one-third finished. Then into the tabernacle now in use, tortoise shape, and capable of holding 7000 people ... we passed the great co-operative store ... and
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
's houses', near which was pointed out Mr. Taylor
John_Taylor.html" ;"title="John_Taylor_(Mormon).html" ;"title="resumably John Taylor (Mormon)">John Taylor">John_Taylor_(Mormon).html" ;"title="resumably John Taylor (Mormon)">John Taylor a very important and able ruler in the body". Thorold went on to the Great Salt Lake and noted "There is a bathing station here, and almost all the company, gentlemen and ladies, bathed in the sea, which, from the quantity of salt, it is quite impossible to sink". He travelled on and even reached
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
before returning home.
Female diaconate
In 1886, he recruited
Isabella Gilmore
Isabella Gilmore (née Morris; 1842–1923) was an English churchwoman who oversaw the revival of the Deaconess Order in the Anglican Communion. Isabella served actively in the poorest parishes in South London for almost two decades and she is r ...
to revive the
female diaconate in his diocese. Her initial reluctance, based on her lack of theological training and her lack of knowledge of the deaconess order, was worn down by Thorold. At the end of October 1886, she felt she received a calling during
Morning Prayer. She later wrote, "it was just as if God's voice had called me, and the intense rest and joy were beyond words." Gilmore and Bishop Thorold proceeded to plan for an order of deaconesses for the Church of England where the women were to be "a curiously effective combination of nurse, social worker and amateur policemen". In 1887, Gilmore was ordained a deaconess and a training house for other woman was put in place, later to be named Gilmore House in her honour.
In her nearly 20 years of service, she re-established the female diaconate in the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
.
Final years and legacy
He was translated to the see of
Winchester in 1891 (being enthroned on March 3), where he would live out his days. A prayer survives from this time that is attributed to "Bishop A. W. Thorold, D.D., Lord Bishop of Winchester, England",
Unlike his cousin, Bishop Edward Trollope, Thorold performed little serious scholarship. He did write a number of devotional books, among them ''The Yoke of Christ'' (Isbister, London 1884), ''The Gospel of Christ'' (Isbister 1884), and ''The Claim of Christ on the Young'' (Isbister, London 1891). Shortly after his death in 1895,
C. H. Simpkinson wrote ''The Life and Work of Bishop Thorold'', published by Isbister in 1896. It contained many quotes from Thorold's correspondence and also accounts of his travels.
References
Further reading
*C. H. Simpkinson, ''The Life and Work of Bishop Thorold''. London: Isbister, 1896
External links
Bibliographic directoryfrom
Project Canterbury
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorold, Anthony Wilson
1825 births
1895 deaths
Bishops of Rochester
Bishops of Winchester
19th-century Church of England bishops
Members of the London School Board