Tom Thorp

• Born : 26 October 1850 at Whitefield
• Died :  3 June 1914 “Uplands” Prestatyn
• Buried : 7 June 1914 All Saints Church, Stand. (Whitefield)

Thomas Thorp was born at Whitefield, on 26 October 1850 the son of James and Sarah Thorp of Narrow Lane Farm. He was educated first at Park Lane School Whitefield and (Stand or Manchester) Grammar School before being articled to Maycock and Bell, architects, Manchester.

Although trained as an architect, mechanics and mechanical engineering became his dominant interest and for over thirty years he made this his profession. He was a skilled instrument maker and inventor. About 1880 he established an engineering business with a workshop in Besses o’ th’ Barn, Whitefield, where he employed at least two skilled assistants in partnership with Robert Tasker of Prestwich. This partnership was dissolved on 12 October 1882, after which he worked on his own account. The business was continued by his sons, and in 1922 was employing 30-40 staff. His advertisements in scientific publications such as “The Journal of the British Astronomical Association” included a range of replica gratings used in spectroscopy and formed the basis of a series of spectroscopes which he made and sold.

He gained the Wilde Premium for Original Research for his transparent replicas of Rowland’s olfaction gratings of 15,000 lines to the inch, an invention which enabled hundreds of scientific institutions to obtain useful instruments previously denied to them because of the high cost. He was the patentee of several dozen inventions including a rotary meter for the measurement of gas and a discount gas meter, both of which were generally used; patents for gas lamps; a push tap for water and colour photography and received awards at the Franco British and St Louis Exhibitions. At the time of his death he was engaged in perfecting a new cinematograph screen. His interests extended to scientific pursuits particularly in relation to the sciences of light and astronomy. At Whitefield he had his own observatory and telescope while at Uplands, Prestatyn, he installed a revolving dome observatory. He was variously a Member Radcliffe Literary and Scientific Society
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; Vice President of Manchester Astronomical Society; Member of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society from 1896. A member of council except for one year between 1902 and 1912. Vice President 1908-1911

Perhaps the best known of his inventions was the Penny-in-the-Slot gas meter which he was the first to perfect and produce. By 1894 12,000 penny-in-the-slot gas meters were already in use in Liverpool.

Thomas Thorp also held the office of engineer to the Whitefield Local Board 1878 to 1894 and to its successor, the Whitefield District Council until 1906. His referenced architectural works are few, but he may also have designed a number of houses in the Whitefield district, including his own house, “Moss Bank” and “Carisbrook” on the opposite side of Knowsley Road. He retired through ill health to “Uplands,” Prestatyn in 1912. Known locally as "the house with the green dome" it was, designed for his own occupation and incorporated a revolving dome observatory where he could pursue his interest in astronomy. On his death the telescope was presented to Stand Grammar School.

Thomas Thorp died at “Uplands,” Prestatyn, North Wales, on Saturday, 13 June 1914 and was buried in the family grave close to the south-west corner of All Saints Church, Stand, Whitefield. He left a widow, Margaret, (1850-1940)  who he had married in 1875 and three sons. Following his death his widow, Margaret, returned to Whitefield. The engineering business was continued by Franklin Thorp

The cause of his death has given rise to some continued speculation. He is known to have met Madame Marie Curie, the inventor of the x-ray on her visit to Manchester. She supposedly gave him a sample of radium in a metal container which he was in the habit of carrying in his waistcoat pocket. Thus, it is suggested that death was due to radiation poisoning.

Address
1903 : Thomas Thorp & Sons. Architects engineers and surveyors. “Moss Bank,” Knowsley Road Whitefield (Slater Part IV Manchester Suburban)
1903 : Thomas Thorp experimental engineer and scientific instrument maker. Narrow Lane (now Victoria Avenue) Besses o’ th’ Barn. (Slater Part IV Manchester Suburban)
1919 : Thomas Thorp & Co. mechanical engineers Narrow Lane Besses o’ th’ Barn Whitefield
1923 : Thomas Thorp & Co. Ltd, Victoria Works, Narrow Lane Besses o’ th’ Barn Whitefield
1919 : Franklin Thorp “Grasmere,” Bury New Road Besses o’ th’ Barn Whitefield

Residence
1911 : Thomas Thorp. Architect and surveyor. “Moss Bank,” Knowsley Road Whitefield (Slater 1911 Part IV Manchester Suburban)
1914 : “Uplands,” Prestatyn (Death notice) June 1914.
1919-1923 :Mrs Margaret Thorp. “Moss Bank,” Knowsley Road Whitefield (Slater Suburban)

“Moss Bank” has been re-named Arden Lea. However, the original name remains on the gate post.

Obituary: Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Lit and Phil Society. Vol LVIII. 1913-14
Annual Report of the Council 1914. Page xlvii
Obituary: Manchester City News 20 June 1914. Page 10
Obituary: Royal Astronomical Society February 1915 page 251