Background
He was born in Kingston in Upper Canada in 1791, the son of a Scottish immigrant who served with Joseph Brant during the American Revolution.
Businessman editor newspaper publisher
He was born in Kingston in Upper Canada in 1791, the son of a Scottish immigrant who served with Joseph Brant during the American Revolution.
The family moved from Kingston to Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and then York (Toronto), where Thomson began work as a clerk in a general store. In 1810, he was transferred to Kingston. In 1815, his employer returned to France and Thomson purchased the Kingston store.
In 1819, he became editor and owner of the Upper Canada Herald, a weekly newspaper, which soon had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Upper Canada.
He also printed pamphlets, books and reports, including The statutes of the province of Upper Canada in 1831. In 1824, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada as a moderate reformer.
He was reelected in 1828 and 1830. With the replacement of Sir Peregrine Maitland by Sir John Colborne as lieutenant governor, Thomson began to support the government"s positions in the legislative assembly.
He also withdrew his support from William Lyon Mackenzie as Mackenzie adopted more radical views.
In 1831, he seconded James Hunter Samson"s motion to expel Mackenzie from the house. He helped establish the provincial penitentiary at Kingston, later the Kingston Penitentiary. He died in Kingston in 1834, after suffering several occurrences of bleeding in his lungs.
Although a member of the local militia, he did not serve in the War of 1812 due to poor health.