Francis Thornhagh


Colonel Francis Thornhagh or Thornhaugh was an English soldier, High Sheriff and MP.
He was born the son of the East Retford MP and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire Sir Francis Thornhagh of Fenton, Nottinghamshire, and educated at Lincoln School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, before entering the Inner Temple in 1636. He was appointed High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1643.
He enlisted to fight in the Netherlands in 1638 and returned to England by 1640.
He married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of John St. Andrew, of Gotham. They lived on St. Mary's Hill, Nottingham, and at his wife's home, Rushcliffe Hall, Gotham.
He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1642. During the Civil War he was, like his father, a Parliamentarian, served on the shire committee and was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of his father's horse regiment. On his father's death he succeeded to his estates at Fenton and elsewhere, together with his colonelcy. He was wounded at the relief of Gainsborough in 1643 and again at Newark in 1644. After the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Rowton Heath near Chester, he was voted a 1000 pounds prize for his gallantry. He was then elected as MP for East Retford, taking his seat when the town was freed from the Royalists in 1646.
During the second Civil War in 1648, Thornhagh and the Nottinghamshire Horse served under Cromwell at the siege of Pembroke Castle and later when a Scottish army under the Duke of Hamilton marched south, Thornhagh marched under Oliver Cromwell’s command to meet them. He was killed near Chorley during mopping up operations after the Battle of Preston. Initially buried where he fell, his body was later transferred to Sturton le Steeple church.
He left a son John, who also became Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and MP for East Retford. and two daughters.