Henry Worth Thornton

Who was Henry Worth Thornton?

Sir Henry Worth Thornton, KBE was a businessman and president of Canadian National Railways. His parents were Henry Clay Thornton and Millamenta Comegys Worth. Henry W. Thornton married Virginia D. Blair, from a prominent Pittsburgh family, on June 20, 1901; They had two children: James Worth Thornton and Anna Blair Thornton. In 1926 Sir Henry divorced his wife. He remarried shortly thereafter to Martha Watriss, daughter of prominent attorney and Nassau County Commissioner Frederick N. Watriss.

Thornton was General Superintendent of the Long Island Rail Road from 1911 to 1914 and General Manager of the Great Eastern Railway in England from 1914 to 1922. From 1922 to 1932, he was the President of the Canadian National Railways.

Thornton played college football at the University of Pennsylvania and served as the head coach of the football team at Vanderbilt University for one season in 1894.