Prologue

Abstract

This book on the life and work of William Thomas Thornton (1813–1880) grew out of earlier research on the history of the classical wage fund doctrine in nineteenth-century political economy. What became apparent while examining William Thornton’s pivotal role in the theoretical debates in the 1860s and 1870s around the wage fund doctrine was the lack of documentation concerning his past, almost as if all records of it had been carefully and deliberately erased. A handful of memoirs were produced by people connected with William Thornton at various stages of his life. As useful as these reminiscences are in constructing a better understanding of many areas of Thornton’s endeavour, none of these (sometimes, vivid biographical accounts) can lay claim to being either exhaustive or reliable. Gaps in Thornton’s life story certainly prompted his close friend, Leslie Stephen, to insert colourful titbits on Thornton in his own biographical reminiscences, ever mindful that “little has been told of Thornton’s private life” (Stephen 1900 3: 187 n.2). Indeed, the details of William Thornton’s exotic ancestry, family alliances and early years remain little visited and surprisingly elusive for someone of his standing within Victorian middle-class society. Beyond a few perfunctory fragments of biographical information, most accounts of the man’s life and work remain superficial at best; they lack the personal testimonies of his colleagues and acquaintances. Nor does the available literature attempt to place him in the relevant intellectual and social milieu; the stages of his intellectual development in relation to events occurring in Victorian intellectual and cultural life are completely bypassed. Biographical details of his father, mother, siblings and other relatives are either incomplete or incorrect. Thornton did not help matters by his own silence concerning his childhood and adolescence, education, family background and professional career. Beyond a few biographical fragments, no vivid anecdotes bearing on the development of his emotional life have been left to posterity, including details of the lessons he learned during his youthful sojourn on the Continent, relations with his parents and siblings and the depression that followed the deaths of three children from tuberculosis. Although occasional insights into his social milieu are provided by some of his private correspondence with well-known Victorian personalities of the day, his own writing seldom intrudes upon his personal experiences, his personality or his private life.