(Sir Arnold) Thornely

• Birth date            7 October 1870 at Godley, Hyde, Greater Manchester.
• Marriage              28 August 1902 at St Paul's Church, Helsby, Cheshire, to Caroline Thornely (1870–1962)
• Death date          1 October 1953 at Greystones, Cobham Surrey

 Arnold Thornely was born on 7 October 1870 the son of James Thornely of Greenhill, Godley, Cheshire and Mary Harris. He was educated at private schools before being articled to Francis Usher Holme FRIBA and George Holme of Liverpool from 1887 to 1891, briefly remaining as assistant. During these years he attended Liverpool School of Art and lectures at the Liverpool Architectural Society. In 1891 he joined William Edward Willink (1856-1924) and Philip Coldwell Thicknesse (1860-1920) as assistant. He also travelled to France and passed the qualifying examination in 1893 enabling him to be admitted Associate of the RIBA that year.

He commenced independent practice in Liverpool in 1898 working in loose partnership arrangements with F B Hobbs c.1899-1904(?), Gilbert Fraser ARIBA and Briggs and Thornley in 1903. He was elected Fellow of the RIBA in 1907 and was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society in 1910 and 1911. He was knighted in November 1932 following the opening of Stormont by the Prince of Wales and received the RIBA Architecture Bronze Medal for Ulster in the following year.

In 1906 he formerly joined Frank Gatley Briggs and Henry Vernon Wolstenholme in partnership as Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely. Wolstenholme retired about 1920, and the partnership was dissolved by the death of F. G. Briggs in September 1921 after which Arnold Thonley worked alone but still under the style of Briggs and Thornley. From 1925 to 1943 he was in partnership with his elder brother Herbert Lionel Thornely (1868–1944), with offices in the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool and seemingly also at Richmond Terrace Blackburn.

Works by this partnership of Briggs Wolstenholme and Thornley included the head office of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board; the offices of Elder Dempster & Company, new premises for the Blue Coat School at Wavertree (1906) ); Fairhaven Congregational Church, South Clifton Drive, Lytham St. Anne's, Lancashire (1907-12); King Edward VII Grammar School, Lytham St Annes (1908), as well as a series of private houses—including his own, The Homestead, Mount Wood, Prenton, Cheshire—and the town hall at Wallasey (1914–19) Police and Sessions Courts, and Public Halls, Blackburn, (1914- 21); the Bank of British West Africa, or West Africa House (completed 1920)  

Works under the style of Briggs and Thornely included Municipal buildings, Barnsley and Preston; Head Office, Burnley Building Society, Burnley 1926; laboratories for the Geology Department of the University of Liverpool (1927–29); an extension to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (1931–33). However, by far the most important work of his career was the Ulster Parliament Building at Stormont Park, Belfast begun in 1923 and opened in 1932. 

On 28 August 1902 at St Paul's Church, Helsby, Cheshire, he married Caroline Thornely (1870–1962), daughter of Frederick Thornely, with whom he had two children, Ronald and Ethel Mary. He spent his final years at his home at Cobham, Surrey where he died on 1 October 1953, survived by his wife and children.

Residence
c.1909        “The Homestead”, Mountwood Road, Prenton, Birkenhead (Pevsner)
1953        "Greystones", Eaton Park Road, Fairmile, Cobham, Surrey. (Who was Who)

Obituaries
Reference    RIBA Journal Volume 61 Page 36. November 1953
Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 3 October 1953. Page 10 Col. C.]
Reference    Daily Telegraph 3 October 1953. Page 4, Column h.
Reference    Times 3 October 1953 Page 8 Col f
Reference    Will:Times 31 December 1963 Page 8 Col b

Reference    Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, 2001
Reference    Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2011 Gillian McIntosh, ‘Thornely, Sir Arnold (1870–1953)’,
Reference    Who was Who 1951-60