Second Lieutenant Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)5th Bn. 

Died 25/01/1916 age 34  Grave Reference Near East End of Church. BECKENHAM (ST. GEORGE) CHURCHYARD. 

Son of Tom William and Clara Thornton, of 42, High St, Beckenham.

On the east side of the churchyard is the family plot of the Thornton family. Mr Tom Thornton, a local stationer was also for many years the editor of The Beckenham Journal. He Lived above his shop in the village and the corner shop became known as ‘Thornton’s Corner’. He lost two sons during WW1 and paid for the restoration of the Lychgate at St George’s Church in memory of his two sons. Unusually for a war time death of a soldier, his eldest son Hedley is not buried in a war grave with a headstone, but in the family grave. This is recorded on the large stone cross headstone. A memorial slab on the grave mentions other family members buried here, and that Pte. Stanley Thornton was killed in action, France. May 3rd 1917. He has no known final resting place.