What connects Alice Thornton to Durham Cathedral?

Blog article published by Cordelia Beattie on 7 September 2023  eventsfamilymanuscripts

As we gear up for four days and nights of events at Durham Cathedral, our project partner, here are five links between Alice Thornton and Durham Cathedral to whet your interest:

1.

Alice Thornton's oldest daughter, also called Alice, married Thomas Comber who became Dean of Durham Cathedral in 1692. He remained Dean until his death in 1699.

2.

Alice Thornton’s son-in-law, Comber, spent £400 on the Deanery at Durham Cathedral, making it suitable accommodation for his wife and children; this would be about £48,000 in today's currency. When Thornton's son, Robert, got sick in 1692, he stayed at the Deanery.

3.

Robert Thornton, Alice’s only adult son and heir to the Thornton estate, died aged 29 on 5 June 1692 and is buried in the Chapel of the 9 Altars, Durham Cathedral. His sister, Alice Comber, commissioned a marble memorial tablet.

4.

Alice Thornton’s Book 2: The First Book of My Widowed Condition is in the Durham Cathedral library collection. In 1969 A.G. Hickson gave some family papers to the Cathedral library, initially catalogued as Dean Comber’s papers with a reference to a journal of his wife, Alice. In 2019 Cordelia Beattie identified this as Thornton’s Book 2.

5.

Alice Thornton’s Book of Remembrances is also now in the Durham Cathedral library collection. In 2019, Patrick Comber gave his collection of Comber family papers to the Cathedral, including the small book which Beattie had identified as Thornton’s Book of Remembrances in 2018.

Still need to book tickets for our 18-21 October events at Durham Cathedral? Don’t delay as events have strict limits on numbers, especially if you would like to view the manuscripts.

Further Reading

Thomas Comber, ‘The History of My Life’, in The Autobiographies and Letters of Thomas Comber, Vol. 1, ed. C. E. Whiting, Surtees Society, 156 (Durham: Andrews & Co. 1946), 1-35.

Cordelia Beattie, ‘The Discovery of Two Missing Alice Thornton Manuscripts’, Notes and Queries 66, no. 4 (2019): 547–53.