Thomas Thomson

Thomas Napier Thomson (25 February 1798 – 1 February 1869) was a Scottish minister, historian and biographer. While still young he stopped using his middle name.

Life He was born in Glasgow on 25 February 1798, the fifth son of Hugh Thomson, a West India merchant. About 1812 the family moved to London, and Thomson was placed at a boarding-school near Barnet. A bronchial medical problem meant he was sent to his uncle's house in Ayrshire, and in October 1813 he entered the University of Glasgow as "Thomas Thomson", dropping the middle name after a disagreement with the Napier family.

After entering the divinity hall as a student for the ministry, Thomson was reduced to poverty by his father's money troubles. He supported himself at college as a private tutor, and in 1823 obtained the two highest prizes in the University of Glasgow. Having received a license as a preacher, he officiated in many parts of Scotland, as well as in Newcastle and Birmingham. In Glasgow he delivered a series of lectures to ladies on the "Philosophy of History".

In 1851 Thomson wrote a supplementary volume of Robert Chambers's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, and immediately before his death he prepared a new edition (3 vols., revised and continued with a supplement) which was published between 1869 and 1871. It is his best known work. His own biography is contained in the supplement. He also published:

British Naval Biography: Howard to Codrington, London, 1839; 2nd edit. 1854. British Military Biography: Alfred to Wellington, London, 1840; 2nd edit. 1854. History of Scotland for Schools, Edinburgh, 1849.

Thomson edited:

Robert Fleming the younger's Discourse on the Rise and Fall of the Papacy, Edinburgh, 1846; John Milton's Poetical Works, London, 1853; the works of James Hogg, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1865; Civil and Military History of England, a work of Charles Macfarlane from the Pictorial History, as The Comprehensive History of England (4 vols. 1858–61).