Samuel Thornton was an Anglican bishop in the late quarter of the 19th century and the start of the 20th.^[1]

He was born in London^[2] on 16 April 1835^[3] and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Queen's College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1859^[4] and after a spell at the London Diocesan Home Mission became Vicar of St Jude's, Whitechapel. From 1864 to 1875 he was Rector of St George's, Birmingham. In 1875^[5] he was appointed Bishop of Ballarat,^[6] a post he held until 1900.^[7] On his return to England he became Vicar of Blackburn^[8] and an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Manchester. He became a notable proponent of British Israelism. He died on 25 November 1917.^[9]