title: William Thornton (academic)
text: # William Thornton (academic)
  
  William Thornton (died 1707) was Principal of Hart Hall, later Hertford College, Oxford, from 1688 until his death in 1707.
  
  ## Background
  
  William Thornton was the son of William Thornton of Milborne Port in Somerset. He was educated at Sherborne, and Wadham College, Oxford of which he became a Fellow in 1667 and Sub-Warden in 1676.
  
  