Date of Birth - 1817

Entered the service of the East India Company as an assistant surgeon. He was appointed the curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society in 1840. He spent a year taking a party of European recruits to Afghanistan. They were held in a siege, eventually captured and almost sold into slavery, but managed to get back to British forces.

In 1847 Thomson was appointed to mark the boundary between Kashmir and Tibet. During the survey he was able to spend time studying plants and the areas geology. While Thomson was in the Western Himalayas, Hooker was exploring the east. He spent a year botanising in the Sikkim mountains then returned to Britain with thousands of plant specimens. It took several years determining and distributing the specimens. He helped to publish the Flora Indica 1855 with Hooker.

In 1854 he took charge of Calcutta Botanic Garden and became the Chair of Botany at Calcutta Medical College.

Countries visited: Afghanistan, India, Tibet

Awards: FRS 1855, FLS 1852

Thomas Thomson Main Plant Introductions:

• Abies spectabilis
• Anemone pratensis
• Asphodelus pyramidalis
• Cedrus deodara
• Frittilaria imperialis
• Himalayacalamus falconeri
• Onosma bracteatum
• Picea smithiana
• Pinus excelsa
• Pinus longifolia
• Primula denticulata
• Primula rosea
• Prunus armenaica
• Pulsatilla patens