Thomas Thorne was an English actor and theatre manager. Thomas Thorne was one the founding managers of London's Vaudeville Theatre

Vaudeville Theatre

The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...

, along with David James and Henry James Montague

Henry James Montague

Henry James Montague was the stage name of Henry James Mann, , and American actor born in England.-Biography:He was born in 1844.He appeared in...

, and performed leading roles in many of the productions there. His father was Richard Samuel Thorne, who managed the Surrey Theatre

Surrey Theatre

The Surrey Theatre began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both horsemanship and drama...

. His older sister, Sarah Thorne

Sarah Thorne

Sarah Thorne was a British actress and actor-manager of the nineteenth century who managed the Theatre Royal at Margate for many years and who ran a School for Acting there widely regarded as Britain's first formal drama school...

, was an actress. His younger brother, George Thorne

George Thorne

George Thorne, was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, especially on tour and in the original New York City productions...

, was also an actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...

. His nephew was the actor Frank Gillmore

Frank Gillmore

Frank Gillmore was an English American playwright and a stage and early film actor...

, and his great-nieces the actresses Ruth Gillmore

Ruth Gillmore

Ruth Emily Gillmore was an English American stage actress.Gillmore was the daughter of Frank Gillmore, former president of Actors' Equity, and the actress Laura MacGillivray, and the sister of actress Margalo Gillmore...

 and Margalo Gillmore

Margalo Gillmore

Margaret Lorraine "Margalo" Gillmore was an English American film, stage and television actress....

.

Thorne was married to Adelaide Newton, whom he had met when they were both actors with the Royal Strand Theatre

Royal Strand Theatre

The Royal Strand Theatre was located in Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps...

, but the marriage was not a happy one. According to Erroll Sherson, Thomas Thorne died penniless and insane.

Sources

• Sherson, Erroll, London's lost theatres of the nineteenth century, Ayer Publishing, 1925 pp. 224–225. ISBN 0405089694.
• National Portrait Gallery, London, Thomas Thorne in Saints and Sinners