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Reposted by Alice Thornton's Books

British History Online @bho.bsky.social · 13h

New #OpenAccess #History: Alice Thornton’s Books Reassessing the Life Writings of a Seventeenth-Century Woman Edited by Cordelia Beattie, Suzanne Trill, Joanne Edge. www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi...

taylorfrancis.com

Alice Thornton’s Books | Reassessing the Life Writings of a Seventeent

This book is the first dedicated study of Alice Thornton (1626–1707) and her life writings, offering unprecedented insights into how one early modern woman

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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

LOOK WHAT I GOT MY HANDS ON @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social! AND, now available Open Access completely free to read and download online! #EarlyModern. Also a lovely arvo catching up with the lovely @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social on Portobello beach! www.routledge.com/Alice-Thornt...

Me in my dirty dogwalking togs on Portobello sea front holding a copy of Alice Thornton's Books: Reassessing the Life Writings of a Seventeenth-Century Woman ed Cordelia Beattie, Suzanne Trill and me

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

23 Sept. 1665 #OTD Joyce, the Thorntons' 8th child, was born at East Newton. Alice Thornton feared she would not survive the birth and so 'entrusted all the chief concerns and evidences for my dear children within a little red leather trunk, locked' to her friend, Thomas Comber (Book 1, 208). 🗃️

A 17th-century trunk made of decorated leather. It has lockable compartments. It looks brown now but was originally a rich red colour.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In Book 2 Thornton adds, 'The fuller description is related in my book of meditations on this subject and also of the First Book of My Life, page 203'. A descendant named Comber seems to have had access to that untraced book of meditations in 1832 as he discusses it at some length. 📚 #BookHistory 📜

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

20 Sept. 1662 #OTD Alice Thornton’s 7th child, Robert, was baptised by Mr Lowcock in her chamber at East Newton Hall. His godparents were Dr Robert Wittie (who treated Thornton during pregnancy), Henry Best (her nephew-in-law) and Katherine Cholmley (who assisted at the birth). #EarlyModern 🗃️

A photo of East Newton Hall, taken from across a field. It has farm buildings behind it, as well as a large tree.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

19 Sept. 1662 #OTD Alice Thornton’s 7th child, Robert, was born ‘at East Newton betwixt the hours of eight and nine o'clock at night (having been since the night before in strong labour with him until that time)'. (Book 2, 270) He died in 1692. #EarlyModern 🗃️

Engraved 17th-century wall monument to Robert Thornton in Durham Cathedral.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The aisle at Stonegrave in North Yorkshire was levelled in 1863 and most Thornton tombstones were buried. There is a great UoY Masters dissertation on the church, using a buildings archaeology approach, by Elanor Pitt. #Archaeology

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

18 Sept. 1668 #OTD Alice Thornton’s husband, William, was buried. ‘My dearest heart was interred in the alley of his own at his own parish church in Stonegrave, near his own mother and two sweet children, Joyce and Christopher." (Bk Rem, 155) #EarlyModern 🗃️

Two stone effigies lying side by side. Thought to be a married couple from the 15th century.

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Sharon Howard @sharonhoward.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Documentation gets the thumbs up. 🤓

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"an excellent example of, and model for, how to do open-access digital scholarship. The research aims to showcase clearly why a digital edition was preferred over a print one, and the documentation ensures that the project can be replicated in the future". www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

14 Sept. 1657 #OTD Alice Thornton, expecting her 5th child, 'got a great fall over the threshold in the hall at Hipswell... which cast me into an ill fit of a fever and the jaundice about three weeks... but it pleased God to restore me of Dr Wittie, who let me blood'. (Book Rem, 30). #EarlyModern 🗃️

A photo of a medieval manor house, adapted in the 16thC. It has a crenellated roof. There is a grass garden in front of it.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It's #ReadABookDay so what are you planning on reading? If you haven't already taken a look at our digital edition of the four books of Alice Thornton (1626-1707), perhaps now's your chance to discover her writing. #EarlyModern 📚 thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/books/

thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk

The Four Books By Alice Thornton

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

5 Sept. 1668 #OTD Alice Thornton became very ill due to the rumours that circulated about her and Thomas Comber: 'I fell into a very grievous extremity of grief again... which so affected my soul that did raise both the spleen and mother [uterus] in my sides'. (Bk Rem, 133) #EarlyModern 🗃️

Painting: Gabriël Metsu, Woman in Agony (the Death of Sophonisba) (1660). A woman lies on a bed with her eyes open and looking at the ceiling.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

4 Sept. 1700 #OTD Alice Thornton (aged 74) wrote to Lady Henrietta Maria Yarburgh recommending a recipe for a ‘glister’ (suppository). Thornton claimed it had helped her late husband with his 'fits' and might help Lady Yarburgh’s husband. #EarlyModern #HistMed 📜 🗃️

Photo of the letter which includes Alice Thornton's signature in the middle on the right.

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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

*Many hands of every sort* I've got a 10-page feature in the latest @historytoday.com on the emergence of mass petitioning in late Tudor & early Stuart England. Tons of people adding their 'hands' to complaints and requests for the first time! #EarlyModern 🗃️ www.historytoday.com/archive/feat...

Opening page of an article entitled 'Many hands of every sort'

First page of text of an article which begins: "On 11 December 1640 a crowd of more than 1,000 people arrived at Parliament to present a complaint, later to be known as the Root and Branch petition. It asked that the ‘government’ of the Church of England, ‘with all its Dependencies, Roots and Branches, may be abolished’. Calling on Parliament to dissolve the entire Church hierarchy was a radical act, but the petition was particularly unprecedented as it was signed by about 15,000 named individuals. It did not come from the City of London or any other official body, but from thousands of people ‘in and about’ the metropolis, each adding their own mark of support to the great ‘roll of names’."

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

3 Sept. 1656 #OTD Alice Thornton's daughter Elizabeth (Betty) died aged 18 months and was buried at St Anne's, Catterick. The parish register records her burial, leaving out her name, which was perhaps meant to be added later: ' ___ the daughter of Wm Thornton buried the 3rd of Sept'. #EarlyModern 🗃️

A photo of St Anne's church, Catterick, taken on an angle looking towards the tower. The sky is blue and tall dark green trees frame the shot.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Its #WorldLetterWritingDay! Alice Thornton frequently communicated by letter and we have been able to trace 25 of her holograph letters (and one copy), with the latest written only a year or two before her death. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️ thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/posts/blog/2...

thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk

Finding Alice Thornton's Letters

Blog article - 1 September 2023

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

After life as a university student, Alice Thornton's son Robert was deeply in debt. She wrote a plea for help to her great-nephew, Abstrupus Danby #OTD 28 August 1688: ‘I am so deeply involved for him already that I am threatened to be clapped in prison’. #EarlyModern 🗃️

Top portion of a letter written on 28 August 1688 by Alice Thornton to her great-nephew, Abstrupus Danby.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

27 August 1652 #OTD Alice Thornton gave birth to her 1st child. The child did not live long and was buried unnamed: 'This, my sweet babe and first child, departed this life half an hour after its birth ... She was buried that night being Friday the 27th of August 1652 at Easby Church.' (Bk 1, 129) 🗃️

17th-century portrait of a deceased girl. The infant is dressed in white and lies under a red and white bed cover in a red, canopied bed.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

It was good to work with @willwyeth.bsky.social on this and get this story added to an interpretation panel at Middleham Castle. #WhereAreTheWomen 📜

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

26 August 1644 #OTD Alice Thornton's sister, Katherine Danby, gave birth to her 15th child, Edward, at Middleham Castle during the Civil War. Teenage Alice nearly drowned while crossing a river on horseback on her way to the castle to attend and be a godparent. #EarlyModern 🗃️

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Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

An English woman insisting on inclusive language in 1684! The main text refers to “man” and Ann Bathurst corrects this in the margin - “that is … men & women” #earlymodern

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

24 Aug. 1696 #OTD Alice Thornton wrote to her great-nephew, Abstrupus Danby, to thank him for giving their kinswoman Peggy £10 'in this wicked and wild age when all the good coin is abused'. Isaac Newton had been appointed Master of the Mint that April and a crackdown on recoinage was underway. 🗃️

A photo of a William III sixpence (obverse) dated 1696, placed next to a ruler horizontally and vertically so its size of approx 2cm can be seen.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

22 Aug. 1639 #OTD young Alice and her mother were about to embark for Dublin from Cheshire when a storm struck: 'I, with the rest of the ship and the passengers, was delivered from that great and terrible storm in Neston Water, where there was five ships cast away before we took ship.' (BkRem, 22) 🗃️

A 17th-century painting of ships in trouble during rough weather. People wave on the land. The sky is full of dark clouds.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

20 Aug. 1662 #OTD Alice Thornton received the sacrament for the first time in many years at East Newton Hall: 'the ministers had not given it on this side during the wars, nor was it again established here since the coming in of the king'. (Book 1, 197) #EarlyModern 🗃️

17th-century pewter communion cup with large knop in the stem.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Be like Alice and don't look at the sun directly during the eclipse today! 🌝🌚

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Are you looking forward to seeing the #SolarEclipse today? On 29 March 1652 Alice Thornton saw a solar eclipse which cast complete darkness over much of northern England: 'I could not refrain [from] going out into the garden and look on the eclipse in water.' (Book 2, 136-7) #EarlyModern 🗃️

Title page of William Lilly's Annus Tenebrosus (1652). The central image is of a smiley sun in black with two black circles either side and some clouds in a circular orbit.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

7 Aug. 1651 #OTD William Thornton wrote to Alice’s mother, Alice Wandesford, at Hipswell about his prospective marriage to her daughter: ‘I hope such further progresse will be made in order to the consummation of our treaty’. They married 15th Dec. 1651. #EarlyModern 🗃️

Photo of Hipswell Hall taken over a stone wall. It is a fortified medieval manor house.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Proofs time! Why do they always land on a Friday afternoon though?! @hagenilda.bsky.social @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social

First page of a set of proofs for an edited collection on Alice Thornton

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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

3 Aug 1640: Charles I appoints Thomas Wentworth Earl of #Strafford captain-general of the army to invade #Scotland #otd (NPG) No comment needed on the outcomes of this 'cunning plan'.

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Amy Lidster @amylidster.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Ahead of our conference on EM women’s historical writing @oxfordcems.bsky.social @engfac.bsky.social next week, check out our speakers’ stimulating blog posts This week @karl-haohaozhang.bsky.social reflects on the significance of ‘ground’ in the Civil War clioreframed.hcommons.org/2026/05/31/w...

clioreframed.hcommons.org

Who Owns the Ground? Lucy Hutchinson and Writing the Aftermath of the Civil War

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Thornton's account is not that different from the legal records. They note that John Ogle and Thomas Jenney were involved, as Thornton also hints at, but they state that Danby died about 11 o'clock on 31 July with the coroner arriving on the 1st. 🗃️ www.british-history.ac.uk/middx-county...

british-history.ac.uk

Middlesex Sessions Rolls: 1667 | British History Online

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

1 Aug. 1667 #OTD Thornton's nephew, Thomas Danby, was murdered near Gray's Inn, London: 'this poor gentleman was suddenly surprised and murdered without any provocation or malice begun on his side. Committed with the most barbarous circumstances imaginable by one Berridge.' (Bk 1, 227). #EarlyModern

A map of Gray's Inn as it stood in Holborn, London in 1677, as printed in a book from 1886.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

30 July 1632 #OTD Alice Wandesford (Thornton's mother) wrote to her son-in-law Thomas Danby to let him know that his wife had given birth: 'at eight o'clock you are made a father of a second son'. She added that she would not organise the baptism until his arrival except 'in case of necessity'. 🗃️

17th-century painting of a woman holding a child while sitting at a table with food and drink on it. There is a large window on the other side. The baby is wrapped warmly in layers.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

29 July 1630 #OTD Alice's sister, Katherine, married Thomas Danby at Kirklington #Yorkshire and spent most of the next 15 years pregnant. 16 pregnancies in that time led to 10 children, 7 surviving childhood. She died from postpartum illness in September 1645. #EarlyModern 🗃️

17th-century Wedding portraits of Maria Overlander. She wears a black gown with a white lace collar and holds a white/grey fan.

17th-century wedding portrait of Frans Bannick Cocq. He wears black clothes with a white lace ruff and grey hose and decorated shoes.

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Lauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Always here for engineer-designer collabs in DH!

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

28 July 1689 #OTD Alice Thornton wrote to her cousin Thomas Osborne (Lord Danby) thanking him for helping her only son, Robert, find a position on a naval ship which was heading to Spain: ‘He assured me he found all persons in the ship very devout at prayers and sermon’. #EarlyModern 🗃️ 📜

The reverse of a hand-written letter written by Alice Thornton (signature pictured) to her cousin, Lord Danby, which is now bound in a manuscript at the British Library.

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Sharon Howard @sharonhoward.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

For #DH and #dataviz people... and if you're not at the conference, go look at the timeline anyway! It's a very clever and lovely visualisation. [disclosure: I may have had a bit to do with the underlying data.]

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

If you're at #DH2026 go see Mary Chester-Kadwell and Tiffany Ong's poster 'Human-centred Design in Digital Humanities: Rethinking Timeline Data Visualisation through Software Engineer-Designer Collaboration' re. the timeline they created for our project. thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/timeline/

thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk

The Eventful Life of Alice Thornton

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Snail mail! 🐌

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

26 July 1669 #OTD Mary Comber, mother of Thomas, wrote to Alice Thornton, about the recent marriage of her son to Thornton's daughter, Nally (Book 3, 191). This likely followed the letter pictured, which was written in Feb. 1669 but only received by Alice Thornton on 14 June. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️

Photo of a handwritten 17th-century letter from Mary Comber to Alice Thornton, 20 Feb. 1669. It has weighted beads around the edges to keep the document flat.

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

25 July 1668 #OTD Thornton's son Robert, age 5, was delivered from death, after falling out of a barn window: 'standing in the window about four yards high from the earth, he fell out of it into the lane and was very near with his head to a great stone.' (Bk Rem, 130). #HistChild #EarlyModern 🗃️

17th-century painting of two children at a balcony window. One holds a cat under his arm and in the raised left hand he holds a wooden object which is a mousetrap. The 2nd, smaller child looks up at it and points. In the background is a 3rd boy.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A different insight into #WomensWork. All three of the women named by Thornton were servants in her household (Mary a former servant, Hannah a current one, as was Barbara, albeit for Thornton's niece who was staying with them). #EarlyModern

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Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

20 July 1668 #OTD Thornton fell ill on hearing of rumours circulating about her: 'Barbara Todd, did impudently accuse, before my face, my servant (Hannah Ableton) for telling her from one Mary Breakes of several stories —which were very great lies and falsehoods against myself' (Bk Rem, 122). 🗃️

A woodcut, lightly coloured in. It shows 'the several Branches of Gossiping' by depicting women in various places: at a childbirth; at the market; at the church; at the baths; at the ale house; at the bakehouse; washing clothes at the river.

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Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A nice #WomensWork detail in this account. 🗃️

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