Sir Arthur Landsborough Thomson FRSE PZS CB LLD (8 October 1890 – 9 June 1977) was a Scottish medical researcher, mainly remembered as an amateur ornithologist and ornithological author and acknowledged expert on bird migration.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

on 8 October 1890 the son of John Arthur Thomson FRSE and his wife Margaret Stewart. The family lived at 10 Kilmaurs Road. He was educated at the

Royal High School, Edinburgh The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

until 1899, when his father moved to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

as Professor of Natural History at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

. Arthur completed his education at

Grammar School. The family then lived at 15 Chanonry in Aberdeen. Arthur then studied Natural History (under his own father) at Aberdeen University, graduating MA in 1911. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as a Lt Colonel in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He received a Military OBE for his services. After the war (from 1919) he became a medical researcher and remained in this role until retiral in 1957. He was created a Commander of the Order of the Bath for this work in 1933 by King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

and knighted by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

for this work in 1953. In 1962 the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

's Buchanan Medal for services to medicine. In 1938 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were James Ritchie, Sir David Wilkie (surgeon),

Charles Henry O'Donoghue Charles Henry O'Donoghue FRSE FZS (23 September 1885 – 28 November 1961) was an English zoologist who studied molluscs, a malacologist. His publications mostly deal with sea slugs and he also named a number of Bryozoans. A collection of over 70 ...

and William Kalman. He was president of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) from 1948 to 1955. He was President of the Zoological Society 1946 to 1950. He was Chairman of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) from 1941 to 1947 and won the Trust's

Bernard Tucker Medal The Bernard Tucker Medal is awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology for services to ornithology. It is named in memory of Bernard Tucker, their first Secretary. It has been awarded since 1954, usually annually although there are some years ...

in 1957. In 1959 he was awarded the BOU's

Godman-Salvin Medal The Godman-Salvin Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union awarded "to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work." It was instituted in 1919 in the memory of Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. M ...

. He died at Queen Mary's Hospital in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

on 9 June 1977.

Family

In 1920 he married Mary Moir Trail (d.1969). They did not have children. His paternal uncle was James Stuart Thomson FRSE.

Publications

*''British Birds and Their Nests'' (1910) *''Problems of Bird Migration'' (1926) *''Bird Migration: A Short Account'' (1936) *''A New Dictionary of Birds'' (editor), 1964 *''Half a Century of Medical Research'' (1973)

References

External links

*
Britain's birds and their nests by A. Landsborough Thomson, hathitrust.org
1890 births 1977 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish ornithologists Presidents of the Zoological Society of London Scottish knights Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Presidents of the British Ornithologists' Union Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-ornithologist-stub