Joseph Clarke Thomson

Joseph Clarke Thomson (1853–1926) was a medical missionary in South China from 1881 until his death in 1926. He worked with Dr. John Glasgow Kerr to establish the Canton Hospital and was superintendent from 1884 to 1885. As an eye surgeon, he was most well known for removing cataracts. "With his silver needle he made the blind to see" was his citation.

Early life and education Joseph C. Thomson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 10, 1853. He was of Scottish ancestry. His great-grandfather David Fergus was one of the first settlers of Cincinnati in 1822 and was the first Presbyterian clergyman to reside there. His mother, Janet Langlands Thomson, gave the land on which the North Presbyterian Church was built, and Joseph was the first infant baptized in that church.

Thomson graduated from Hanover College in 1875, Union Theological Seminary in 1878, and University Medical College, New York City in 1881. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1881. He later received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1923.

He married Agnes Louise Dornin of New York City on September 21, 1881, in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and in October, they sailed to China as missionaries under the American Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was present at the 75th anniversary of the hospital's founding where he lauded the institution and gave a donation.

This was during the time of the Sino-French War, when feelings against foreigners were running high in Canton. There were often mobs at the front doors of the hospital and threats of destruction, but Thomson was committed to keeping it running without interruption.

In 1892, Thomson, with his wife and their four children, returned to Cincinnati on furlough for two years. Although they expected to return to China at the end of the furlough, Thomson was invited by the Foreign Mission Board to work with the large Chinese populations in Eastern Canada. In 1894 he was made superintendent of the Chinese mission work under the Canadian Presbyterian Church and moved the family to Montreal. It was largely due to Thomson's efforts that the Canadian Presbyterian Church decided to establish a mission in Macao in 1901.

After twenty-five years in Montreal, Thomson returned to China in 1919 to continue his missionary work with Canton Hospital. His son J. Oscar Thomson had been a surgeon at the hospital since 1910 and became superintendent in the 1920s and 30s. All of Thomson's children were involved in missionary work in China and other countries in Asia.

Thomson also wrote many articles for the China Medical Missionary Society, Chinese Recorder, and other journals.

Death and legacy Joseph C. Thomson died of heart failure on November 18, 1926, in Canton, China.