Thomas Thomson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FSA Scot The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

(10 November 1768 – 2 October 1852) was a Scottish advocate, antiquarian and archivist who served as

Principal Clerk of Session The Principal Clerk of Session and Justiciary is the clerk of court responsible for the administration of the Supreme Courts of Scotland and their associated staff. The Keeper of the Signet grants a commission to the Principal Clerk of Sessio ...

(1828–1852) and as secretary of the literary section of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(1812–20). Thomas Thomson Lauder

Life

Thomas Thomson was born in

Dailly Dailly ( gd, Dail Mhaol Chiarain) is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located on the Water of Girvan, south of Maybole, and east of Old Dailly. "New Dailly", as it was originally known, was laid out in the 1760s as a coal-mining vil ...

manse on 10 November 1768, the eldest son of Rev Thomas Thomson, minister of

in Ayrshire, and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Francis Hay. John Thomson was a younger brother. After attending the parish school of Dailly, he entered the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

at age 13, where he graduated with an MA on 27 April 1789. He attended classes in theology and law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

from 1789 to 1791. He passed the Scottish bar as an advocate on 10 December 1793. His early Edinburgh address was 19 North Castle Street. Here he was a neighbour and close friend to

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

, at that time also a fellow advocate. Thomson acquired a practice at the bar, particularly in cases demanding legal learning. Legal and historical antiquities later absorbed his attention. His main role was deputy clerk-register of Scotland, a new post to which he was appointed on 30 June 1806. His work mainly consisted of reforming the system of public registries and the method of the custody of records, in rendering these records accessible to research, in rescuing and repairing old records, and in editing the acts of the Scottish parliament and other governmental records under the authority of the

Record Commission The Record Commissions were a series of six Royal Commissions of Great Britain and (from 1801) the United Kingdom which sat between 1800 and 1837 to inquire into the custody and public accessibility of the state archives. The Commissioners' work ...

. In 1807 he was elected a Fellow of the

. His proposers were

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

, Sir James Hall and Thomas Allan. He served as Secretary to the Society from 1812 to 1820. In February 1828 Thomson was chosen one of the principal clerks of the

court of session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

. On the institution of the

Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...

in 1823 he had been chosen vice-president, and on the death of Scott in 1832 he succeeded as president. Thomson, however, was lax on finance. After an inquiry into the accounts of the register office in 1839 he was removed from the office of deputy clerk-register. At this time he was living at 127 George Street in

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

Medallion head of Thomas Thomson in Dean Cemetery

Thomson died at Shrub Hill House,

Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the centre of the city to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the street to the ...

, Edinburgh, on 2 October 1852. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in the section known as "Lord's Row". He was succeeded as Principal Clerk of Session by

Cosmo Innes Cosmo Nelson Innes FRSE (9 September 1798 – 31 July 1874) was a Scottish advocate, judge, historian and antiquary. He served as Advocate-Depute, Sheriff of Elginshire, and Principal Clerk of Session. He was a skilled decipherer of ancient S ...

.http://www.andywightman.com/docs/Cosmo_Innes_Oxford_biog.pdf

Family

In 1836 he married Anne Reed.

Works

The grave of Thomas Thomson, Dean Cemetery

For research in the register office Thomson prepared some manuals: *"A Continuation of the Retours of Service to the Chancery Office from the Union, A.D. 1707" *"An Abbreviate or Digest of the Registers of Sasines, General and Particular, arranged in Counties with relative Indexes, from the 1st of January 1781" *"An Abbreviate of Adjudications from 1st January 1781 to 1830" *"An Abbreviate of Inhibitions, General and Particular, arranged in Counties, from 1st January 1781 to 1830" His various ''Reports'' appeared from 1807. Of works published by Thomson for the

, the major one was ''The Acts of the Parliament of Scotland'', 1424–1707, vols 2–11 (1814–1824). Vol. 1, containing the ''Regiam Majestatem'', with the oldest recorded Proceedings and Acts of Parliament, was published last; and, although almost complete before 1841, when Thomson's connection with the register office ceased, did not appear until 1844, when it was edited, with additions, by

. Other works published under the authority of the Record Commission were: *''Inquisitionum ad Capellam Domini Regis Retornatarum, quæ in Publicis Archivis Scotiæ adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio'' (1811, 1816), 3 vols *''Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum in Archivis Publicis asservatum, mcccvi–mccccxxiv'' (1814) *''The Acts of the Lords Auditors of Causes and Complaints, mcccclxvi–mccccxciv'' (1839) *the ''Acts of the Lords of Council in Civil Causes, mcccclxxviii–mccccxcv'' (1839) Other related works mainly derived from the same sources, were: *''A Compilation of the Forms of Process in the Court of Session during the earlier periods after its establishment, with the Variations which they have since undergone'' (Edinburgh, 1839) *''A Collection of Inventories and other Records of the Royal Wardrobe and Jewel House, and of the Artillery and Munition in some of the Royal Castles, 1488–1606'' (Edinburgh, 1815) *''Chamberlain Rolls'', vols 1–2, 1326–1406 (1817); vol. 3, 1406–1459 (1845, for the

) Thomson also edited the ''Memoirs'' of

Sir George Mackenzie Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh (1636 – May 8, 1691) was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate, essayist and legal writer. Early life Mackenzie, who was born in Dundee, was the son of Sir Simon Mackenzie of Lochslin (died c. 1666) and Elizabe ...

(Edinburgh, 1821); and ''Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Right Honourable George Baillie of Jerviswood, and of Lady Grissell, by their Daughter, Lady Murray'' (Edinburgh, 1822); and he published: *''Inventory of Work done for the State by his Majesty's Printer in Scotland, December 1642–October 1647'' (Edinburgh, 1815), on Evan Tyler *''Ane Addicioun of Scottis Cronikles and Deidis. A Short Chronicle of the Reign of James the Second, King of Scots. From Asloan's Manuscript in the Auchinleck Library'' (Edinburgh, 1819) *''Menu de la Maison de la Royne faict par Mons. de Pinguillon, MDLXII'' (Edinburgh, 1824) For the

he also edited: *''Alexander Myln. Vitæ Dunkeldensis Ecclesiæ Episcoporum'' (1823) *''Discours particulier d'Escosse, escrit en 1559'' (1824) *''The History and Life of King James the Sext'' (1825) *''Memoirs of his own Life by Sir James Melville of Halhill'' (1827) *''Memoirs of his own Life and Times by Sir James Turner'' (1829) *''The History of Scotland'', by John Lesley, bishop of Ross (1830) *''Collection of Ancient Scottish Prophecies in Alliterative Verse'' (1833) *''Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents from the Pollok MS'' (1833) *''The Ragman Rolls, 1291–1296'' (1834) *''The Book of the Universal Kirk of Scotland, 1560–1618'', 3 vols (1839–45) *''A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall'' (1843) *''Munimenta Vetustiora Comitatus de Mortoun'', and ''Original Letters and Papers in the Archives of the Earls of Morton'' (1852) In 1800 Thomson was chosen to edit an edition of Lord Hailes's ''Works''. It never appeared; but the edition of Hailes's ''Annals'' and ''Historical Tracts'' (1819) acknowledged Thomson's help. A close associate of

Francis Jeffrey Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (23 October 1773 – 26 January 1850) was a Scottish judge and literary critic. Life He was born at 7 Charles Street near Potterow in south Edinburgh, the son of George Jeffrey, a clerk in the Court of Session ...

and other projectors of the ''Edinburgh Review'', Thomson contributed three papers (on Erasmus Darwin's ''Temple of Nature'' (1803);

Anna Seward Anna Seward (12 December 1742 ld style: 1 December 1742./ref>Often wrongly given as 1747.25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. She benefited from her father's progressive views on female education. Li ...

's ''Memories of the Past'' (1804); and

John Mason Good John Mason Good (25 May 1764 – 2 January 1827), English writer on medical, religious and classical subjects, was born at Epping, Essex. John Good's parents were the Nonconformist minister Revd Peter Good and Sarah Good, the daughter of anothe ...

's ''Life'' of Alexander Geddes (1804)); and occasionally undertook the editorship for Jeffrey.

Life

Family

Works

References

Further reading