George Thomson
Illustration — Pachystoma thomsonianum George Thomson (26 May 1819 – 14 December 1878) was a Scottish missionary in Cameroon who collected plants to send to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and to the British Museum. Thomson was born in Balfron, 16 miles north of Glasgow and trained as an architect. His brother, Alexander Greek Thomson (1817–1875) was an eminent Glaswegian architect and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building.
George Thomson
A.B. del. (?) John Nugent Fitch (1840–1927) lith. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) ed. · " Curtis's botanical magazine " vol. 106 ser. 3 nr. 36 tab. 6471 ( · Public domain
- Born
- 1819
- Died
- 1878
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- missionary · architect · botanist
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Illustration — Pachystoma thomsonianum George Thomson (26 May 1819 – 14 December 1878) was a Scottish missionary in Cameroon who collected plants to send to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and to the British Museum. Thomson was born in Balfron, 16 miles north of Glasgow and trained as an architect. His brother, Alexander Greek Thomson (1817–1875) was an eminent Glaswegian architect and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building.
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Biography
Biography
George and Alexander were partners in an architectural practice in Glasgow early in their careers. In 1870, George Thomson was sent by the Baptist Church to West Africa as a missionary in Limbe, Cameroon (then known as "Victoria"), where he combined his religious activities with a passion for botany. In 1877, he was host to the German botanist, Wilhelm Kalbreyer who had been sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to search for plants in "that unhealthy region". Amongst the plants discovered by Kalbreyer was an epiphytic orchid of the genus Pachystoma, which was named Pachystoma thomsonianum in Thomson's honour. It is now known as Ancistrochilus thomsonianus. Thomson died in Victoria from malaria on 14 December 1878. His nephew, Rev. William Cooper Thomson (1829–1878) was a missionary in Nigeria, after whose first wife the bleeding-heart vine Clerodendrum thomsoniae was named.
Life and career
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Life and career
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1819
George Thomson born.
1878
George Thomson died.
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Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ray Desmond & Christine Ellwood. Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists. CRC Press. 681. 1994. 0-85066-843-3.
- 2.James Herbert Veitch. Hortus Veitchii. Caradoc Doy. 70. 2006. 0-9553515-0-2.
- 3.John Ebenezer Honeyman Thomson. Memoir of George Thomson. BiblioBazaar. 1. 2008. 978-0-554-52598-3.
- 4.Balfour, J.H. Description of a new species of Clerodendron... Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal n.s., 15(2): 233–235, t. 2. 1862.
- 5.Umberto Quattrocchi. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. CRC Press. 560. 2000. 0-8493-2675-3.
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George Thomson is recorded as missionary, architect and botanist.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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