Helen Cargill Thompson

Helen Cargill Thompson (12 December 1933 – 28 September 2020) was a Scottish scientist, librarian, art collector and supporter of educational, artistic and heritage organisations.

Early life Born in Burma where her father worked as a merchant trader, in 1939, Thompson, her parents and two brothers returned to Glasgow to live with her grandparents in Mirrlees Drive, close to Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Her great-granduncle David Sime Cargill was the founder of Burmah Oil., at Edinburgh University involving research into the contraceptive pill.

Career Thompson worked for ten years as a research scientist, then changed career in response to a campaign to recruit scientists to work in libraries as information officers. In 1970 she started her librarianship training in the Andersonian Library at Strathclyde University. On August 5, 1982, she became head of the Andersonian Library's new Reference and Information Division, a post she held until her retirement in 1999.

Thompson was a member of, and donor to, many organisations, including: Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society Charity Education International

Death Cargill died in Glasgow in September 2020.

The National Trust for Scotland Glasgow Members' Centre held a talk on Wednesday 13 January 2021 "in memory of our past chairman Dr. Helen Cargill Thomson who died in 2020" by Fergus Sutherland entitled Industrial Pleasures: the Development of Mass Entertainment in Victorian Glasgow.

Her funeral service took place at Maryhill Crematorium on 15 October. The service was conducted by Cargill's nephew, Father Edmund Cargill Thompson.