THOROTON, ROBERT (1623–1678), English antiquary, belonged to an old Nottinghamshire family, which took its name from Thoroton, near Newark. He resided mainly at another village in the same neighbourhood, Car Colston, where he practised as a physician and where he lived the life of a country gentleman. He took very little part in the Civil War, although his sympathies were with the royalists, but as a magistrate he was very active in taking proceedings against the Quakers. In 1667 Thoroton, aided by a band of helpers, began to work upon his elaborate Antiquities of Nottinghamshire. This was published in London in 1677; it was dedicated to Gilbert Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, and was illustrated by engravings by W. Hollar.
In 1797 a new edition of the Antiquities was published by John Throsby (1740–1803), who added an additional volume. In 1897 the Thoroton Society was founded in honour of the antiquarian, its object being to promote the study of the history and antiquities of Nottinghamshire. Under its auspices annual volumes of Transactions and several volumes of Records have been published and much valuable work has been done. A brass tablet to the memory of Thoroton has been placed in Car Colston church. See J. T. Godfrey, Robert Thoroton, Physician and Antiquary (1890).