The Italian physician
Girolamo Cardano, who came to Scotland in 1552, described a pearl head dress worn by Thomson's daughter, comprising 73 Scottish pearls, "I saw on a girl's head, the daughter of Thomas Thomson in Edinburgh, about seventy three Scottish pearls, of equal and remarkable size".[2]
When
Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven was unwell for three months in 1565 he was treated by the queen's French doctor, the physician David Preston, and Thomas Thomson.[3]
Thomas Thomson died in 1572. At his death the "drugs, unguents, plasters, spices, and other medicaments" in his shop and cellar were worth £300
Scots.
Marriage and family
Thomas Thomson married Margaret Barton, a granddaughter of the treasurer
Robert Barton. In 1552 they bought the lands of East and West Duddingston from her brother Robert Barton. In January 1572 Thomson granted the lands of Duddingston to his son Alexander.[4]
Their children included:
Alexander Thomson of Duddingston, advocate, (died 1603), who married Margaret Preston in 1594,[5] a daughter of Samuel Preston of
Craigmillar, and widow of Walter Cant.[6]
Alexander Thomson, apothecary. In 1590 he had a shop or booth in a tenement at the top of Niddry's Wynd in Edinburgh.[7]
Adam Thomson, apothecary
Janet Thomson, who married Adam Dickson, an apothecary who trained with her father
Patrick Thomson
References
^Robert Kerr Hannay, Rentale Sancti Andree (SHS: Edinburgh, 1913), p. 108: Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 1546-1551, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 436.
^Robert Keith, History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1734), p. 119.
^Calendar of Laing Charters (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 158 no. 601, 217 no. 866-7, 219 no. 875.
^Jane Stewart Smith, Grange of St Giles (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 24.
^Francis James Grant, Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, 1532-1943 (Edinburgh, 1944), p. 207: Calendar of Laing Charters (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 314 no. 1284.
^Calendar of Laing Charters (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 297 no. 1203.