REV. WILLIAM THORP. 
883 
office of Messrs. Littledale & Co., of Livei-pool, with whom he always 
maiutaiued friendly relations. He was, I have heard, at this time a 
very handsome man, and of remarkable strength, one feat he accom- 
plished in these days, for which, he always considered, he had to pay 
in after years, he made a wager with his friend, young Mr. Little- 
dale, that he would swim across the Mersey, against the tide ; he 
accomplished it, but afterwards suffered somewhat from his back. 
My father, the late Mr. Richard Thorp, a man of the rarest veracity, 
told me this several times, remarking it was a greater feat of strength 
than Lord Byron swimming the Hellespont. 
Mr. Thorp's half-sister was married in Liverpool to a cousin of 
influential position, and nearly related to the well-known writer, Mr. 
Roscoe, and the families were intimate, but " belles-lettres " were not 
the attraction to the calibre of Mr. Thorp's mind. The bent of his 
inclination and where his strength lay, was unfortunately in youth un- 
known, viz., in science. Afterwards, he considered to take Holy Orders, 
and went to Jesus College, Cambridge. He had the advantage of taking 
with him an introduction to the well-known family of Thackeray. 
Dr. Martin Thackeray being Provost of Kings' at that time, and his 
brother had married into the Thorp family. I believe ^Ir. Thorp met 
here many of the "savants" of the day. He was ordained by the 
Archbishop of York as Curate to Dr. Sharp, Vicar of Doncaster, and 
preached his first sermon in Doncaster Parish Church, but about the 
year 1833 he went as Cnratt^ in charge of Womersley, living at the 
Vicarage. The Rev. Mr. Catou liolding the livings of Womersley 
and Kirk Smeaton. 
It vvas to Womersley he brought his wife. Miss Annie Preston, 
of Newcastle-on-T}aie, whom he had met when curate at Doncaster. 
They had eight children, two sons and six daughters : — William, late 
Captain 78th Highlanders ; Henry Preston ; Emma, married to Mr. 
William Alexander, Indian Civil Service ; Annie, (deceased), married 
to Mr. T. W. Jobling, of Point Pleasant, Tyuemouth ; Frances 
Elizabeth, married to Captain Furnivall, Lancashire Mihtia ; Adela 
Sophia, married to Mr. Adderley ; Emily, married to Mr. Swain ; 
Helen Mary, married to the Rev. Charles Perry Reeve, of Dean 
Priory Vicarage, Devon. 
