Sir Henry Worth Thornton

Sir Henry Worth Thornton

Sir Henry Worth Thornton, railway official (b at Logansport, Ind 6 Nov 1871; d at New York C 14 March 1933). After graduating from U of Pennsylvania in 1894, Thornton joined the engineering department of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1914 he went to Britain as general manager of the Great Eastern Ry. He was knighted in 1919 for his wartime service as director general of railways behind the battle lines in France. In 1922 he was appointed by the Liberals as president of CANADIAN NATIONAL RYS, and under him the varied railways under government control were unified. During the 1920s there was intense rivalry between the CNR and the CANADIAN PACIFIC RY. When the Conservatives came to power in 1930, Thornton was attacked as a Liberal partisan, and feeling that he had lost the support of the government, he resigned in 1932.