Author: Thomson, George
Biography:
THOMSON, George (1698?-1782: Bibliotheca Cornubiensis)
He was probably born in 1698, son of George Thomson, of Brindsworthy, Fremington, near Barnstaple, Devon, and his third wife Katherine Eliot, who had married at her parish of Trebursye, South Petherwin, Cornwall, in 1694. He presumably went to school locally before proceeding to Exeter College, Oxford (matric. 1716, BA 1719) and being ordained in 1722. He then served as chaplain on HMS Tyger in America and later in the 40th Regiment of Foot. He was possibly minister in the Virgin Islands from 1726. He was appointed vicar of St. Gennys, near Camelford, Cornwall, on the Bristol coast, on 10 Sept. 1732 and remained there until his death. He had an early conversion experience and is sometimes credited with the establishing the groundwork for Methodism in the West Country although he remained a staunch Calvinist. He travelled as an itinerant preacher throughout his life and was on good terms with John Wesley (q.v.), who stayed with him several times and was present at his death-bed, administering Holy Communion. He was also on good terms with George Whitefield, who preached several times at St. Gennys. He married first Grace (Trevanion) Drake on 12 July 1739 at St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, Devon. She may have died in London in 1749. Burke (1847) adds two further marriages to Rebecca Dingley and then Penelope Lucas but these remain untraced.Bibliotheca Cornubiensis (1878) records only a second marriage to Honor Eliot (who may have been a relative on his mother’s side) on 14 July 1757, in Hampshire. They had a son and a daughter. He died on 12 Nov. 1782 and was buried in the family vault at Barnstaple. His wife, Honor, survived him and died in 1787. (Bibliotheca Cornubiensis [1878], 2: 718; Rogal 8: 141-3; Burke Gentry 2: 1391 ; Lewis, 2: 1100; I. Davidson, “Some Account of the Rev. George Thomson,” Evangelical Magazine June 1800, 221-5; G. C. B. Davies, The Early Cornish Evangelicals 1735-60 [1951], 30-52) AA