Walter Alfred Thornton (23 February 1858 – 2 February 1915), born Walter Alfred Lee,[upper-alpha 1] was an English cricketer active in first-class cricket from 1879 to 1883.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Walter Alfred Thornton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1858-02-23)February 23, 1858 Kensington, Middlesex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 February 1915(1915-02-02) (aged 56) Blakedown, Worcestershire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Richard Thornton (grandfather) Richard Lee (father) Rev. Richard Thornton (brother) Albert Thornton (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1879–1882 | Oxford University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 16 September 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born to Margaret James and Richard Napoleon Lee at Kensington, Middlesex, Thornton was the third of three brothers. Both his brothers, Richard and Albert played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club.[3] He was educated at Winchester College,[4] where he played for the college cricket team between 1874 and 1876, captaining the team in his final year at school.[3] From Winchester he went up to St John's College, Oxford, where he made his debut in first-class cricket for Oxford University Cricket Club against the Gentlemen of England at the Magdalen Ground in 1879.[5]
Thornton played first-class cricket for the University until 1882, making 22 appearances.[5] He won an Oxford Blue for both cricket and billiards.[3] He made one first-class appearance each for the Marylebone Cricket Club and the Orleans Club in 1883.[5] Across 24 first-class matches, Thornton scored 843 runs with four half centuries and took 27 wickets, with best figures of 4/29.[6] He was made a lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment in 1883.[7] He died at Blakedown, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire on 2 February 1915.[4] His grandfather was the millionaire Richard Thornton.