Minor poet. Born in Edinburgh, Thomson was brought up by his grandparents at Mid Kinleith (near Currie), his parents having been destitute. He was apprenticed to his grand-father who was a weaver. Despite an intermittent education, due to illness, he read voraciously and began to write poetry. He lived in a cottage called Mount Parnassus at Mid Kinleith, where he raised a family of nine. He published two volumes of poetry, in 1801 and 1819, the second dedicated to his patron General Thomas Scott of Malleny (1745 - 1841).
