The Thornton Family
The Thornton Institute is proud to be associated with the Thornton family who were influential, with other reformers, in transforming the ethics and values in business, commerce and public life in England in the C18th.
• John Thornton
• Henry Thornton
• Godfrey Thornton was a Governor of The Bank of England.
Moggerhanger House
Moggerhanger House, the office of the Thornton Institute, was the former home of Godfrey Thornton. The house also had a significant spiritual heritage, being the home for meetings of the Clapham Sect, the early 19th Century group of evangelical Christians who were instrumental in introducing many of the great social reforms of that time.
Ethics in Early Banking
The Thornton Institute seeks to research, explore and promote the merits of basing a company ethos on a system of ethics that has its roots in biblical principles. This will not be a new departure for the City of London. For some hundreds of years, commercial practice in the City has had biblically based principles as the foundation of the life of the whole business community. The booklet 'Rules for the Conduct of Life', given to Freemen in the City since the seventeenth century, bears testimony to this rich heritage that was instrumental in establishing the integrity of the City in which a person's word was his bond.
