Lieutenant-General Sir William Thornton KCB (1779 – 30 March 1840) was a British Army officer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.
of Muff, near Derry, and of Armagh, who died in 1792 at the age of 51, and Anne Thornton, the daughter of Perrott James, Esq.
He served as acting commanding officer of the regiment in Guernsey in Spring 1807 and then became aide-de-camp to Craig in his capacity as Governor General of British North America later in the year.
[6][7] Thornton was then involved in the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815,[6] at which the only British success was on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where Thornton's brigade, comprising the 85th Regiment and a detachment of one hundred sailors from the Royal Navy and one hundred men of the Royal Marines,[8][9] attacked and overwhelmed the American line.
[3] Thornton died of suicide on 30 March 1840 (or 6 April),[3] after having suffered from psychological problems attributed to wounds from the War of 1812.