Joseph Thomson was born in Penpont on St Valentine’s Day in 1858. He was the youngest of the five sons of the stonemason William Thomson and his wife Agnes (nee Brown). From his father he inherited a love of books and from his mother a love of nature. In 1868 the family moved to Gatelawbridge when William became the tenant of the local stone quarry. Joseph did well at the local Wallace Hall Academy, and then Edinburgh University after a spell at the quarry. He studied geology, mineralogy and natural history, and won medals in his final exams in 1878. Much of his time was spent in reading about his growing obsession, African Exploration, this being the age of Livingstone and Stanley.

In 19 June 1878 an article appeared in the “Dumfries and Galloway Standard and Advertiser” about the Royal Geographical Society’s proposed expedition to east Africa under the leadership of Keith Johnston. Thomson immediately applied to join the expedition - in any capacity, paid or unpaid. To his great surprise he got the job as “Geologist and Naturalist to the Expedition”.

A few weeks into the expedition, Johnston fell ill and died. Thomson, at the age of 21, new to Africa and the only other European on the expedition, decided to take over and complete its work. The epic story of this is told in Thomson’s subsequent bestseller “To the Central African Lakes and Back”, and in his brother’s biography “Joseph Thomson, African Explorer” published in 1896.

The amazing success of this expedition led to six others under Thomson’s leadership - The Rovuma River (East Africa) in 1881; through the land of the Masai to LakeVictoria in 1883 to 4; up the River Niger in 1885; to the Atlas Mountains in Moroccoin 1888; to Lake Nyasa and Zambia in 1890; and in South Africa, for Cecil RhodesCompany, in 1893.

Thomson wrote extensively about these travels - “Through Masai Land” 1881 which is still regarded as a classic; “Travels in Atlas and Southern Morocco” 1889; numerous articles for various journals and even a novel, “Ulu - an African Romance” which was a joint effort with an old female school friend, E. Harriet Smith.

Sadly, Africa wrecked Thomson’s health and he died on 2 August 1895 in London. He was only 36 years old. He is buried in Morton cemetery, Thornhill.

Joseph Thomson Memorial, Thornhill

The only modem biography of Thomson is “Joseph Thomson and the exploration of Africa” by Robert I. Rotberg published in 1971. This has a very extensive bibliography, covering all Thomson’s own writings and much that has been written about him.

“To the Central African Lakes and Back” and “Through Masai Land” are currently available in paperback reprint - from Elibron Classics - www.elibron.com