James Thompson of Leicester was an English journalist and local historian.
Background
James, son of Thomas Thompson, proprietor of the Leicester Chronicle, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Garton of Halstead, Leicestershire, was born at Leicester on 6 December 1817. He followed his father"s profession of journalist, as a reporter, and then assisting in the editorial department. He soon became an able leader-writer, and for more than thirty years wrote nearly all the leading articles of the Leicester Chronicle, the chief liberal paper in Leicestershire, which had belonged to his father since 1813.
In 1841 Thompson became joint proprietor of the Chronicle with his father, and sole proprietor in 1864.
Career
He received his education first at a school kept by Mr. Creaton of Billesdon, and then under Charles Berry, minister of the Great Meeting at Leicester. In the same year he purchased the copyright of the Leicestershire Mercury, which he merged with the Leicester Chronicle.
In politics he was a liberal and a reformer.
He worked actively for the abolition of the corn laws and of church rates, and for the extension of the electoral franchise.
Membership
Foreign some time he was a member of the town council of Leicester. And he was one of the founders of the Mechanics" Institute there, and honorary curator of the Leicester Museum.