William Thompson (26 November 1816 - 19 October 1897) was an English born

viticulturist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

, credited with the introduction and popularization of the Sultana grape in the Central Valley of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Known widely as the ''Thompson Seedless'' variety in the United States, the high yielding pale green grape accounts for approximately 95% of raisins produced in California.

Early life and career

William Thompson was born in Wistow,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England in 1816. On the 1841 UK Census, he is described as 'Agricultural Labourer'. By the 1851 Census, he was 'Gardener of , employing 1 man'. Thompson emigrated to the United States and after a period living in Illinois settled with his family in

Sutter, California Sutter, formerly South Butte and Sutter City, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sutter County, California, United States. It is part of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area within the Greater Sacramento CSA. The population as of the 201 ...

in 1863. In 1872 he acquired cuttings of the Lady de Coverly (sultana) grape from the Elwanger & Barry Nursery of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. The original grape rootstock is assumed to have originated from territories than now make up parts of modern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

only acquiring the Lady de Coverly varietal name after having been successfully cultivated in English glasshouses. After grafting the cuttings onto existing rootstock, Thompson was eventually successful in 1875 of producing a crop of 50 pounds of large sweet, thin skinned seedless grapes. Thompson was generous in sharing his cuttings and the first 200-acre vineyard of Thompson's grapes were planted by his friend J.P. Onstott. From this vineyard cuttings were shared throughout the Central Valley and by 1920 the Thompson Seedless variety had replaced the seeded Muscat of Alexandria grape as the preferred raisin variety.

References

* English viticulturists British emigrants to the United States People from Selby District People from Yuba City, California American botanists 1816 births 1897 deaths {{food-bio-stub