Who's Who

Mr George Malcolm Thomson, F.L.S., now in practice as an analyst and scientific specialist in Dunedin, was born in Calcutta in 1848. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and University, and was for three years employed in a merchant's office in London. Following the failure of the Agra Bank, Mr Thomson’s family came to New Zealand, arriving in Southland in 1868, and here Mr Thomson was engaged for three years in farming at Mabel Bush. In 1872 he joined tho staff of the Dunedin High Schools, and for many years was master of both the Girls’ and Boys’ educational institutions. Mr Thomson was the inaugurator and one of the founders of tho Technical School in 1889, and for eleven years filled the position of hon. secretary and superintendent of the school and is at present chairman of the Board of Management. For many years he was secretary, and afterwards became president on two occasions of the Council of the Otago Institute, and for a long period was an active member of the Otago Acclimatisation Society. He founded, and has been president for some years of the Dunedin City Mission; founded the Dunedin Choral Society, and was formerly and is at present its president. He founded and was an original member of the Dunedin Football Club, and was captain of the club for a time, and an Otago football representative. He was also the founder and for many years president of the Pirates Football Club. Mr Thomson is one of the original members of the Dunedin Conservation Society and a member of the Board, and was formerly a member of the B Battery, and for several years captain in the Volunteer Artillery. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee cf the Free Kindergarten Association.