Much of what we know of the family is taken from a letter written in 1935 from Andrew Macfarlane Thomson to his nephew James Marcus Thomson in New Zealand.
4 Montgomerie Tce
Ayr 28th Sept 1935
My dear nephew
Many thanks for your interesting letter received on 6th Augt. last, but undated!
I was very pleased to learn of your health and prosperity and of the wellbeing of you all, as also of your connection with the Scottish Society which serves to preserve the link with the old homeland. Of course we occasionally hear of you through May [Mary Merry Williams nee Thomson] who is good enough to write us frequently, although I fear we have not been able to respond so regularly as I should like. I am sorry my capacity for correspondence is now at a very low ebb through old age and weakness, and my dear wife is overburdened with work of many kinds both household and business as she helps Matt in his trade of grocer and wine merchant.
Perhaps I should explain that our only daughter, Mary, was married in February last so that her mother lost her invaluable assistance in household affairs. Matthew is the older of our two sons, next in age to Mary, and has succeeded to me as I did to my father, in the business of grocer and wine merchant here. Next and youngest comes Lawrie who is a doctor and at present is MO at Leicester hospital and sanatorium. He is named after his mother’s father and his full name is Archibald Lawrie Findlay Thomson – much too long for everyday use!
Now as to the family history which you ask about, there is nothing outstanding or especially interesting as far as I am aware, being simply a record of humble, honest, hard work and carefulness. Your grandfather Matthew Thomson, and grandmother Mary Merry were both natives of Kilmarnock (12 miles from Ayr). Grandfather started work at age of 10 as his mother was left a widow with a family of sons and I think daughters to bring up without a husband’s help. He, that is your grandfather, was very musical, had a fine voice and was a member of a brass band in his young days. Later he went to Glasgow and was in the provision trade and became Precentor in Eglington Street church. After a time he was appointed to the office of Precentor of the Parish Church of Rothesay, went there and started business as a Grocer and Wine merchant and did quite well, but after a few years joined another man in the wholesale provision trade in Glasgow and found his partner unsatisfactory so cleared out and came to Ayr and started again as a Grocer and Wine merchant, was quite successful and continued in the business until disabled by paralysis in 1884 and died in March 1890 in his 75th year. Grandmother died 28th of July 1898 in her 81st year, suddenly from heart weakness, without suffering any previous illness.
Her father was a joiner by trade and she had a number of brothers besides a sister. As to grandfather’s family they were:
Peter died young at 22
Adam your father
James went to Honduras but came home, died 1898 age 47
Mary unmarried died March 1881 age 32
Robert lost at sea in 1868 aged 18
Andrew myself now 81 past
Matthew after being in Honduras went to New Zealand (Napier) and was killed by being thrown from his horse at Te Aute 12/4/92
As you will see from the handwriting I am very shaking and regret it is not likely I shall be able to write you again but please accept all good wishes for you all from myself your aunt Annie and cousins your affectionate uncle Andrew McFarlane Thomson.
PS I suppose you will be aware that your father went to sea as a boy, sailed to Calcutta and afterward to Melbourne where during the gold fever there, he left the ship and went with his ship mates to the gold diggings, and I presume spent some years at that. His afterlife you will know better than I do
AMT.
Matthew Thomson and Mary Merry were married 1 Feb 1839 in Kilmarnock. As we find out in the letter transcribed above, Matthew Thomson senior “had a fine voice and was a member of a brass band in his younger days”, and was clearly very musical.
Mary was 6 months pregnant, with Peter Thomson arriving on 3 May 1839 at Kilmarnock. Sadly, he only lived to the age of 22, dying of pulmonary consumption, now known as tuberculosis.
The family moved to Glasgow where he was in the “Provision” trade. In the 1800s Glasgow supplied the colonies with cloth, iron farming implements and tools, glass and leather goods. Clearly his musical talents were recognised and he became Precentor in the Eglinton St Church in Glasgow. A Precentor is a person who leads a congregation in its singing or prayers. It’s likely that the church is the one shown below: it was at the corner of Bedford Street and opened in 1825. The church building became a cinema in 1921. It was destroyed by fire in 1932 and a Mecca Social Club erected in its place.
When the 1841 census was taken, the family was living in Grove St, Glasgow. My great-grandfather Adam Merry Thomson was born after the census was taken, in Garscube Rd, Glasgow, on 12 July 1841.
Interestingly, his birth record lists him as the first child, which he was not.
Peter and Robert Thomson are listed as witnesses to the birth – not sure who they were!
Matthew was appointed to the position of Precentor at the Parish Church of Rothesay, on the island of Bute.
Bute is an island in the Firth of Clyde, off the west coast of Scotland. The ferry from the mainland arrives in the town of Rothesay, which was first built in the 13th century, centred on a now-derelict castle.
Matthew started business there as a Grocer and Wine Merchant. James was born in 1846, Mary in 1848, and Robert Raeburn Thomson in 1850, all at Rothesay. The family is listed here in Victoria Street in the 1851 census. Peter (11), Adam (9), and James (5) were listed on the census as being at school.
Above is an early photograph of Victoria Street taken some time before 1869 prior the land to the seaward side being reclaimed to provide the land for the Esplanade and gardens. The funding was provided by George Stevenson, of Glen Caladh, (£500), the Marquis of Bute (£700) and public subscription of £700. The new Esplanade was opened in 1872. Was the Thomson Grocers somewhere in this picture?
In 1854 the family were living at 9 Minerva Partick Rd, Glasgow, where Andrew McFarlane Thomson was born. At some point in the ten years between when the 1851 and 1861 census was taken, Adam had left home and gone to sea. Was the time on Bute a catalyst for this? Did he ever move to Glasgow with the rest of the family? There is probably no way we will ever know.
The couple’s final child Matthew Auld Thomson, was born at 5 Cromwell Place, Ayr, in 1856
So – their children:
Peter Thomson d 1861 aged 22 of tuberculosis
Mary Thomson died unmarried in 1881, age 32, of tuberculosis
Robert Raeburn Thomson d 1868 aged 18, lost at sea
Older generations
Thomson Family History 