James Thomson (B.V.) was born in Port Glasgow, Scotland on November 23, 1834. His father James, the son of a Scottish weaver, was a sailor in the merchant service until he was paralyzed by a stroke in 1840. His mother, Sarah Kennedy Thomson, was an Irvingite. When she died in 1842, James was sent to the Royal Caledonian Asylum, a school for the children of poor sailors and soldiers. In 1850 he became a monitor at the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, where he excelled in his studies as well as his sportsmanship.

Thomson spent the next ten years of his life as an Army schoolmaster. In 1851 he worked for eighteen months as an assistant-teacher at Ballincolig, Ireland. In 1855 he completed his training at the Royal Military Asylum in Ch

This article in full comprises 3127 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 10 January 2005 ; revised 18 April 2006

Citation: Hawley, Michelle. "James Thomson". The Literary Encyclopedia. 10 January 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4387, accessed 9 February 2010.]