Robert Thorne (1470 - 1519)

Born 1470 in Bristol, England

Descendants

Died 1519 at about age 49 in London, England

Biography

Robert Thorne was a merchant and adventurer who was trading actively from Bristol to Spain, Portugal, Iceland, and elsewhere for nearly 40 years from 1479 onwards. In 1501 he was associated with Hugh Eliot in the purchase of a ship; in 1510 he was a member of an admiralty commission for Bristol and he was mayor in 1515. ^[1]

His son Robert in 1527 stated of his father that, he “with an other Marchaunt of Brystow named Hughe Elliot were the discoverers of the Newfound Landes.” ^[1]

Robert had his will drawn up on 20 Jan 1517, describing himself as a merchant of Bristol. ^[2]He made bequests to:

• Dame Elyn Thorne, my daughter
• Margery, my sister of St Albones
• her husband
• my brother William Thorne's daughters, that being fatherless, one called Phyllipp and one called Rose
• William Wossley
• his wife and his daughter Rose
• my son Robert
• my son Nicholas
• my daughter Alice Thorne
• my wife Joan

A full transcription of Robert's will is available here

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} David B. Quinn, “THORNE, ROBERT (1492-1532),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed August 30, 2021, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thorne_robert_1492_1532_1E.html.
2. ↑ Probate: Ancestry Record 1610 #588079 (accessed 31 August 2021)
   Name: Thorne, Robert; Dates: 1519; Place: General, England; Book: 1383 to 1558.; Collection: England: Canterbury - Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1383-1558 (K-Z); Text: 1519 Thorne, Robert, St. Nicholas, Bristol 19 Ayloffe.