Help: James Thornton

Subject: James Thornton
From: Orac
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 06:47 AM

Does anyone have a pic of James Thornton who wrote "When you were sweet sixteen" in 1898 (and lots of others). His music used to carry a picture of his wife who sang his songs but never a pic of himself. Although he didn't die till 1939 I can't seem to find a photo of him. Can anyone help?

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 02:57 AM

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Brakn
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 04:10 AM

No photo but I can tell you somethings. He was born at 50 Kew Street, Liverpool on the 1st Dec. 1861. His father was John Thornton, a baker and his mother was Catherine Thornton nee Molloy. They were married in Liverpool 13th May 1855.

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 04:23 AM

Can't find any pics on a quick search, but his date of death is listed as July 27, 1938, not 1939, on various websites.

Joan

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: songs2play
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 06:18 AM

I noticed the Sheet Music which may be of interest.

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Orac
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 08:40 AM

Thanks Joan.. I posted the date from memory... which seems to be failing these days :-( Thanks also to Brakn .. You seem to have a different birthday than that in all Biogs which always give his birth date as 5th Dec 1861. Where did you get your info from? Do you have family connections?

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Brakn
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 08:56 AM

Orac I'm no relation, just interested. I do family trees as a hobby. I got the info from a copy of his birth cert. Also I got a copy of his parents marriage cert.
He may have been baptised on the fifth. It was sometimes considered to be a more important date.
I had noticed that a search on the internet would come up with that different date. It's not surprising. If you do a search for John Lennon's family tree, there's not one site that has it correct or even one book printed that's right. These mistakes get handed down.

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Orac
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 09:22 AM

Thanks for the info. I'm into genealogy too. Been tracing my tree since 1978. I've got William Heath-Robinson on my tree which prob accounts for things going wrong. Can I be cheeky and ask for a scan of the certificates.

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 03:11 PM

The biog. I came across which does give his date of birth as 1st December 1861 is here: A Composer's and Lyricists Database.

Joan

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Brakn
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 05:01 AM

Orac PM me with your email address.

Subject: RE: James Thornton
From: Orac
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 04:39 AM

Joan, you are quite right. The page I was looking at was called "The big bands data base plus" which lists birthdays of people in the music world. I've sent them an Email re: their error. By the way I've got hold of a 1922 recording of When you were sweet sixteen ... if its any good I'll send you a copy ... when it arrives from the States.