John Thornton (1720–1790) was a British merchant and Christian philanthropist who became immensely wealthy through investment in the North Sea Russia trade, and as a result of his Christian faith, gave much of his money away to a huge number of good causes, in so doing becoming the greatest philanthropist of the eighteenth century. Hugely successful in business, it was said that at the time of his death in 1790, Thornton had become the second most wealthy man in Europe.