Peter Francis Thorne
Sir Peter Francis Thorne, was a British Army officer.
Family and education
Thorne was the son of General Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne and the Hon. Margaret Douglas-Pennant. His cousin was the courtier Dame Frances Campbell-Preston.Thorne was educated at Eton College before attending Trinity College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, in 1934, he joined the regimental reserve of the Grenadier Guards, his father's regiment.
In 1959 Thorne married the physicist Anne Patricia Pery, with whom he had one son and three daughters.
Career
Thorne crossed to France with the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in 1939 to fight in the Second World War. He was wounded at Comines, Nord, during the Allied retreat to Dunkirk. He retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1946.Two years later he joined the staff of the House of Commons as Assistant Serjeant at Arms, being promoted to Deputy Serjeant in 1956. In 1976 he went on to serve as the 33rd Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons.
Thorne was a member of the Cavalry and Guards Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron. He died on 16 March 2004, aged 89.