# Peter Thornton

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{{Short description|British art historian and writer (1925–2007)}}
{{about||the United Kingdom judge|Peter Thornton (judge)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Peter Kai Thornton''' [CBE](/source/CBE) (April 8, 1925 – February 8, 2007) was a museum [curator](/source/curator) and writer.

The son of eminent scientist Sir (Henry) Gerard Thornton and Gerda, daughter of Kai Norregaard, of [Copenhagen](/source/Copenhagen) (and related to the actress, director and writer [Eva Le Gallienne](/source/Eva_Le_Gallienne) through the latter's Danish mother, journalist [Julie Norregaard](/source/Julie_N%C3%B8rregaard)),<ref>Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, Kelly's Directories, 1969, p. 1940</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Thornton |website=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) |date=24 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807063423/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html |archive-date=2018-08-07 |url-status=live |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html}}</ref> Thornton was educated at [Bryanston](/source/Bryanston_School), which he left aged 14 to enroll at the [de Havilland](/source/de_Havilland) aeronautical technical school and work on the [Mosquito](/source/De_Havilland_Mosquito) production line at [Hatfield, Hertfordshire](/source/Hatfield%2C_Hertfordshire); after serving during World War II in the Intelligence Corps, he went up to [Trinity Hall, Cambridge](/source/Trinity_Hall%2C_Cambridge), where he read Danish and German (B.A. 1950).<ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Thornton |website=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) |date=24 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807063423/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html |archive-date=2018-08-07 |url-status=live |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html}}</ref><ref>The Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 December 1991, Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 1354</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/12/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituary: Peter Thornton|newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 March 2007 |last1=Knox |first1=Tim }}</ref>

After being assistant keeper at the [Fitzwilliam Museum](/source/Fitzwilliam_Museum), Cambridge, and joint secretary to the [National Art Collections Fund](/source/Art_Fund), in London, from 1952 to 1954, Thornton joined the [Victoria and Albert Museum](/source/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum) in London, serving as keeper of furniture and woodwork between 1966 and 1984, and curator to [Sir John Soane's Museum](/source/Sir_John_Soane's_Museum), in [Lincoln's Inn Fields](/source/Lincoln's_Inn_Fields) between 1984 and 1995. Thornton was best known for his radical approach to the presentation of historic interiors at [Ham House](/source/Ham_House), [Osterley Park](/source/Osterley_Park) and [Apsley House](/source/Apsley_House).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/12/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituary: Peter Thornton|newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 March 2007 |last1=Knox |first1=Tim }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Thornton |website=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) |date=24 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807063423/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html |archive-date=2018-08-07 |url-status=live |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1543653/Peter-Thornton.html}}</ref>

His daughter, Emma Bettina, married the diplomat [Peter Jay](/source/Peter_Jay_(diplomat)); she was Jay's second wife.<ref>Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 1990, ed. Patrick Montague-Smith, pg 686</ref>

==Bibliography==
*''Seventeenth Century Interior Decoration in England, France and Holland'' (1978).
* with Maurice Tomlin: ''The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House''. [Furniture History Society](/source/Furniture_History_Society), London 1981.
*''Authentic Décor: the Domestic Interior 1620-1920'' (1984).
*''Innovation in the Decorative Arts 1470-1870'' (1989).
* ''The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400 - 1600''. H. N. Abrams, New York City 1991, {{ISBN|0-810934590}},

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Knox, Tim. [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2031730,00.html Peter Thornton], ''The Guardian'', 12 March 2007.
* Lightbown, Ronald. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070222183636/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2287020.ece Peter Thornton], ''The Independent'', 20 February 2007.  
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071119024050/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/02/24/db2402.xml Peter Thornton], ''The Telegraph'', 24 February 2007.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Peter}}
Category:1925 births
Category:2007 deaths
Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Category:British curators
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Peter Thornton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thornton) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thornton?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.