Thomson, William, Archbishop of York (1819 -1890)

William Thomson was born 11 February 1819, the youngest son of John Thomson of Kelswick House near Whitehaven, and his wife Isabella. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Queen’s College, Oxford, where he matriculated 2 June 1836 took his B.A. in 1840 and became a Fellow of the College in the same year and M.A. in 1844. In 1842 he published Outlines of the Laws of Thought and shortly after was ordained deacon and priest in 1843. He was curate at St Nicholas in Guilford and Cuddesdon near Oxford, and in 1847 was recalled to Oxford where he became a College tutor. In 1855, Thomson married Zoe daughter of James Henry Skene, British Consul at Aleppo, and was presented to the rectory of All Souls, Marylebone, but almost immediately was elected Provost of Queen’s. In 1861 he was made Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, and in ten months was translated to the Archbishopric of York. He died on 25 December 1890.