Written in 2022, revised in 2024, published in 2026! Trill, S., Beattie, C. (2024). Alice Thornton. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Early Modern Women's Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. doi-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/978-... #EarlyModern 🗃️ 📚

17 Jan. 1667 #OTD the sight of Alice Thornton's son Robert began to return as he recovered from smallpox. It was restored fully the next day, "for which I most humbly bless God with all my soul and magnify his mercies to me in the deliverance of this my dear and sweet child." (Bk 1) #EarlyModern 🗃️

This is a stunning resource, beautifully presented - congratulations to Ros Smith Kathy Acheson and their team emwmlibrary.com

Another useful #EarlyModern resource 🗃️ #DigiHums

Today's the birthday of Alice Thornton's great nephew, Abstrupus Danby 🎁 #EarlyModern 🗃️

23 Dec. 1683 #OTD Anne Norton, Alice Thornton's aunt, was buried at St Mary's, Richmond (N Yorks). The two women were close and in *Book Three* Thornton credits her aunt with being the one to help her recover from sickness, brought on by hearing rumours spread about her, in summer 1668. 1/2 🗃️ 📜

🎅🎄🎁 or 🍞🍷🗡️? #EarlyModern #Christmas

Alice Thornton mentions Christmas four times across her four Books. In keeping with her usual subject matter, two of these are about taking Communion and two are about the death (murder!) of her cousin. #EarlyModern 📚 🗃️ 📜 thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/entities/tex...

20. Dec. 1668 #OTD Thornton received Communion, while ill in bed after her husband's death 3 months earlier: 'it pleased God to give me this opportunity to receive the blessed Sacrament — with my daughter Comber and my son, and Hannah and some of hers... which was in my chamber' (Bk 3, 163). 🗃️

17 Dec. 1651 #OTD Alice Thornton wrote to her new mother-in-law, Elizabeth Gates, enclosing a pair of garters for her sisters-in-law which “I desire my sisters do me the honour to wear”. The two who are mentioned in Thornton's Books are Elizabeth Denton and Frances Portington. #EarlyModern 🗃️

16 Dec. 1726 #OTD Katherine Danby, Alice Thornton’s daughter, was buried at Stonegrave. Just two of Alice’s nine children outlived her, Alice Comber (Nally) and Katherine (Kate). Katherine lived the longest, dying at age 70. #EarlyModern 🗃️

In Alice's will, made in 1705, she left her wedding ring to her oldest daughter with the stipulation that it should then be passed down the Comber line with other Wandesford family heirlooms. Her younger daughter received her 'wedding bodice and crimson stomacher of flowered satin'. #EarlyModern 🗃️

Very rarely does a post warrant all caps, but: SEARCHABLE INTERIM MANUSCRIPTS CATALOGUE. At long last! searcharchives.bl.uk

15th Dec. 1651 #OTD Alice Wandesford married William Thornton. She describes the months of negotiations in what she calls 'tedious' detail in her ‘First Book of My Life’ (Book 1). Her mother wished to see her daughter's inheritance protected during marriage. Spoiler: it wasn't! #EarlyModern 🗃️

Interested in being a successful "true" widow in early modern England? Leave behind the music and singing for sighing and mourning, for one. @mariacannon.bsky.social investigates guidelines for widows in the Folger collection and beyond. #skystorian #bookhistory www.folger.edu/blogs/collat...

13 December 1659 #OTD Alice Thornton's mother, Alice Wandesford, 'was interred ... in the chiefest place in her quire at Catterick church ... the ministers appointed by her did carry her into the church and so to the grave after the sermon' (Bk Rem, 40). #EarlyModern 🗃️

10 Dec. 1640 #OTD Alice's father, Christopher Wandesford, was buried: 'carried from the castle of Dublin in a stately manner, according to his dignity and place, being interred in the chief church, Christ's Church, under a fair marble before the deputy's seat of estate' (Bk 1, 37). #EarlyModern 🗃️

8 Dec. 1683 #OTD Thornton wrote to her great-nephew Abstrupus Danby, enclosing evidence about how much his grandfather has received for marrying her sister, Katherine, when Alice was a child. Abstrupus was in a legal battle with his aunt Margaret Danby about the family estate. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️

7 Dec. 1654 Alice Thornton wrote #OTD to her nephew, Thomas Danby, who she and her mother lamented not seeing: 'now by this summons my mother commanded my pen to tell you that she is deprived of your company which she thought a comfort to her declining age'. #EarlyModern 🗃️ 📜

❓Question please for #Skystorians - has anyone come across examples of people being baptised in punch bowls in 17th and 18th-century England? We've found one in a will ... 🗃️

4 Dec. 1684 #OTD Alice Thornton stood as godmother to one of her grandsons, William, son of Thomas Comber and her daughter Alice (Nally). Four years later, same day, and grandson Thomas was baptised there too. They were the two of the five Comber sons to survive childhood. #EarlyModern 🗃️

3 Dec. 1640 #OTD Alice's father, Christopher Wandesford, died: 'It pleased God to call for my dear and honoured father ... who departed sweetly in the Lord to the infinite loss of me and the rest of our family ... at his house in Dublin in Ireland' (Bk Rem, 23). #EarlyModern 🗃️

29 Nov. 1664 #OTD Alice Thornton wrote a letter to her husband: “I am now joyful of this good occasion, to send your horses to bring me your much desired company, without which I have not enjoyed much comfort”. #EarlyModern 🗃️

28 Nov. 1665 #OTD Alice Thornton’s husband recovered from illness: “And at three o'clock at night called for a toast and butter, not having eaten aught of four days" (Book 1). #EarlyModern 🗃️

26 Nov. 1699 #OTD Thomas Comber, Alice Thornton's son-in-law and close confidante, died aged 54, at East Newton Hall. He had caught 'a dangerous cold' the previous September and never fully recovered. #EarlyModern 🗃️

What’s that? You want an introductory BONUS episode of Uprising? Featuring @jonathanhealey.bsky.social and myself? No problem! In this special @historyextra.bsky.social episode with Emily Briffett we give our five key moments of the conflict - do you agree? www.historyextra.com/period/upris...

Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray! www.bl.uk/stories/news...

20 Nov. 1666 #OTD Thomas Comber wrote to Alice Thornton's daughter from London to say that his old tutor, William Holland, had offered him one of his daughters in marriage and a living of £100 a year. Nally replied to him four days later and the couple married two years later. #EarlyModern 🗃️

16 Nov. 1665 #OTD Alice's husband, William, had a 'fit of the Palsey [paralysis or weakness of part of the body, sometime with a tremor]' (Bk 1), on his way home from York. He was taken to nearby Brandsby Hall, Stearsby. There he endured three days of convulsions and a fever. #EarlyModern 🗃️

A wonderfully elaborate binding for Mrs Elizabeth Colles, from the early seventeenth century. It contains three linguistic works, including Thomas Thomas’s Dictionary (Cambridge, 1610). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.61.2. #herbook

Do you research early #bookhistory? Come to our #REBPAFConference : 23-25 June 2026, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin! 📚 Key details: • Deadline: 15 Dec 2025 [Abstract (max 300 words) + short CV] • Themes: Selection,Value,Accessibility & Survival in book culture Follow the link for more info! #REBPAF

12 Nov 1667 #OTD Christopher, Alice Thornton's ninth and final child, was baptised at East Newton Hall, the family home, having been born the previous day: 'His godfathers and godmother were my brother Denton, my brother Portington and Mrs Anne Danby'. (Bk 1). #EarlyModern 🗃️

11 Nov. 1651 #OTD William Thornton wrote to Alice's mother, Alice Wandesford, about the protracted marriage settlement negotiations. He wanted to include lands which were part of his mother's jointure but his stepfather, Geoffrey Gates, was refusing to give legal consent. #EarlyModern 🗃️

10 Nov. 1668 #OTD Alice Thornton wrote to her cousin Lady Mary Yorke declining her offer to take teenager Nally, Thornton's daughter and Yorke's god-daughter, to be confirmed by the bishop, knowing it was part of a plot to prevent Nally's marriage to Thomas Comber. #EarlyModern 🗃️

Great look into the comprehensiveness of EEBO and EEBO-TCP and what that means for using those tools. Highly recommend for all computational bibliographers and early modernists doing large-scale work with EEBO

8 Nov. 1668 #OTD Alice Thornton received a letter from her former servant. Daphne Lightfoot had uncovered a plot to prevent the marriage of Thornton's daughter Nally to Thomas Comber. Thornton writes, 'there was a conspiracy between Dr Samways, Mrs Danby and my Lady Yorke' (Bk3). 1/2 #EarlyModern 🗃️

On this day in 1605 a Catholic soldier named Guy Fawkes was arrested in an undercroft below the House of Lords. Many people know about the infamous gunpowder plot, but here's a blog post about the broader Catholic community at the time. manyheadedmonster.com/2014/11/03/g... #EarlyModern 🗃️

5 Nov. 1668 #OTD Thomas Comber went to York to apply for a licence to marry Alice Thornton's eldest daughter, Nally. They would be married 12 days later. The significance of the date was not lost on Thornton, who was a devout Protestant and royalist. #EarlyModern 🗃️ #GuyFawkes #BonfireNight 1/3

4 Nov. 1667 Alice Thornton, aged 41, went into labour with her 9th and final child, Christopher #OTD: 'I fell into pangs of labour about the 4th of November being very ill, and so continued by fits all that week' (BkRem). Christopher was born a week later on 11 Nov. #EarlyModern 🗃️

The document pictured is headed 'Alice Thornton wife of William Thornton of east Newton Esqr aged twenty nyne yeares or thereabouts'. Reader, she was 30.

According to Book 2, Alice Thornton #OTD 3 Nov. 1658 gave evidence at Hipswell before a Master of Chancery. She deposed that her father, Christopher Wandesford, had made a will in Ireland in 1640. The will had since gone missing and its contents were disputed. 1/2 #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️

Did anyone else feel their heart leap with the news that the British Library are aiming to relaunch their archives and manuscript catalogue in early December? Can't wait to see you old friend 😭

😍 #TinyBooks #EarlyModern 📚

Kirklington Hall, where Alice Wandesford Thornton was born in 1626, has a ghost 👻 associated with it known as the Grey Lady. It is also said that if the enormous old trunk, which once contained all the Wandesford family papers, was moved from the Hall then disaster will follow. Spooky! #Halloween 🗃️

*ANNOUNCEMENT* We are excited to announce a brand new podcast series: UPRISING: THE CIVIL WARS. A six-part series produced by HistFest Productions for the HistoryExtra podcast. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts!

Today on the blog: a magnificent find by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social of a book that the poet Katherine Philips gave to Mary Jeffreys; a discussion with important scholarly implications for the study of Philips earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h... #EarlyModern #HerBook

The Thornton's Books team are very pleased that our digital edition has been recognised by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender in their annual publication awards. We received a ‘Co-Honourable Mention’ in the Digital Scholarship category. thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/posts/news/2...

27 Oct. 1698 #OTD Thornton wrote to her great-nephew, Abstrupus Danby, about her daughter Katherine's proposed 2nd marriage to Robert Danby of Northallerton: 'she has given now promise without the consent of friends and there is more in the case to see her utter ruin'. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️

Yorkshire gentlewoman Alice Thornton (1626-1707) mentions a 'first sleep' in her Book 1, pp. 83 and 134. #EarlyModern 🗃️ @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social

Delighted my podcast on Brilliana Harley has been released. She died on 29th October 1643 of a 'defluxion of the lungs ', probably pneumonia @susanwabuda.bsky.social @suwesterman.bsky.social @sdamussen.bsky.social @annlaurahughes.bsky.social @jamesdaybell.bsky.social @englishcivilwar.bsky.social