and Foreign Unitarian Association, and a regular chapel-goer even when away from his home town of Liverpool. He took an interest in the town throughout his life and was involved in numerous of its institutions, being one of the people involved from the outset of the Liverpool Athenaeum from 1798, and of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society. He was a co-founder of the Liverpool Mechanics' and Apprentices' Library in 1824, as well as being a supporter of the Liverpool Institute from its origination. Politics In 1831, Thornely stood in a parliamentary by-election for the Liverpool constituency, losing to Viscount Sandon after campaigning for full acceptance of the proposals that later became the Reform Act of 1832. He lost again in the 1832 election, subsequent to which there were attempts to resolve issues of corruption that had blighted elections in the borough, both municipal and parliamentary, since 1823. Thornely refused to stand as a candidate in Liverpool for the 1835 general election because, according to a report in the Liverpool Mercury, "he felt it was useless to contend with the [corrupt] freemen of Liverpool". He was instead elected as the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton, together with Charles Pelham Villiers, who noted that the constituency was "one of the new boroughs and, as yet, uncorrupted". Thornely, who had considerable experience in local politics, and the somewhat younger Villiers were re-elected at the next five general elections, became mutual friends and worked closely together. According to biographer Roger Swift, both were "committed Reformers and Free Traders", with Thornely's sagacity sometimes tempering Villiers' impetuous tendencies. At only one of those elections was he opposed. Aside from his involvement in reform causes such as supporting free trade and repeal of the Corn Laws, Thornely played a significant, if somewhat unobtrusive, role in the passing of the Dissenters' Chapels Act of 1844, which rectified a legal anomaly that had arisen following the recognition by the 1813 Doctrine of the Trinity Act of the right of Nonconformists to practise their religion . The 1844 Act recognised the property rights of Unitarians to the places of worship that they had used for 25 or more years previously. Thornely, who was among the most assiduous attendees in the House of Commons, stood down from the House of Commons at the 1859 general election, being by then aged 78 and suffering from poor health. The Wolverhampton Chronicle noted