George Rennie Thorne, 1902 - 1903
Thorne was born in 1853 in Longside, Aberdeenshire and was the youngest of eight children. His father worked at the Inland Revenue office, and then as a collector of taxes. The family moved to Wolverhampton where Thorne was educated at Tettenhall College. After leaving school he was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Mr Gittins, a solicitor in Newtown. At the completion of his final legal examination in 1876 Thorne took third place and gained the Incorporated Law Society prize. Upon qualifying he joined a firm in Stockport and later, in 1879, returned to Wolverhampton to establish a legal practice. He began to identify with religious progress and political reform, participating in philanthropic, political, social, and temperance pursuits. He entered Wolverhampton Council in 1888, representing St Matthew's Ward as a Liberal member, and served on the Finance, Water, Free Library, Art, Parks and Baths, Housing, Tramways, and General Purposes committees. He later represented East Wolverhampton as an MP in the House of Commons, a position he held for twenty-one years. Thorne proved popular with young men's artisan classes and became Chairman of the Health Committee. He advocated housing schemes despite opposing contemporary attitudes, and worked laboriously for Cannon Street Mission where he preached after his election to the position of mayor. He made annual visits to South Street Baptist Church, Brierley Hill, where his father was a lay minister, and was the president of the West Midlands Federation of Evangelical Free Church Councils. He had an interest in probation and liaised with the police on the matter. His name was added to the list of the Commission of the Peace in 1929, and in 1933, at the age of eighty, he was honoured by the former Prime Minister, Lloyd George. He died at his home, The Hollies, Coalway Road, Penn, the following year.

J Jones The Mayors of Wolverhampton Vol 2 (Whitehead Brothers, Wolverhampton)
Article Wolverhampton Chronicle 3rd November 1920
Son’s Death Wolverhampton Chronicle 28th October 1925
Death Express and Star 20th February 1934
Photograph Index – Y1/THOR G