Arthur Thomson (military surgeon) explained

Arthur Saunders Thomson
Birth Date:	9 December 1816
Birth Place:	Arbroath, Angus, Scotland
Death Place:	Pekin, China^[1]
Death Cause:	Rupture of an abscess of the liver into the abdominal cavity
Placeofburial:	Russian Cemetery, Pekin, China
Placeofburial Label:	Buried
Branch:	British Army
Branch Label:	Branch
Serviceyears:	1838–1860
Rank:	Surgeon Major
Rank Label:	Rank
Servicenumber:	4525^[2]
Unit:	17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot, 1838– 14th (The King's) Regiment of Light Dragoons, 1842– 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot, 1847– Staff, 1859–60
Commands:	PMO, 2nd Division, British Expeditionary Force, China, 1860
Awards:	Gold Medal prize for MD thesis, Medical Faculty, University of Edinburgh, 1837
Memorials:	Cenotaph, Saint John Episcopal Graveyard, Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma Mater:	University of Edinburgh
Spouse:	Ngāhiraka Wood
Children:	3

Surgeon Major Arthur Saunders Thomson (29 December 1816  - 4 November 1860) was a notable Scottish military surgeon, medical scientist, writer and historian.^[3] He was born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland in 1816.

He joined the British Army on 19 October 1838 as an assistant surgeon to the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot^{[4] [5]} and was stationed in India with the 14th (The King's) Regiment of Light Dragoons until 1847.^[6] There, he wrote about the epidemic of fever among his regiment during the monsoon season. Upon his return to England, he was appointed surgeon to the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot^[7] and sent to New Zealand. In New Zealand he wrote extensively about disease statistics among Māori and European populations and climatology.

Thomson's book, The Story of New Zealand: Past and Present, Savage and Civilized (1859), is generally considered to be the first scholarly history of the island country.^[8]

He was promoted to surgeon major in 1858^[9] and was sent back to England. A year later, he was placed in charge of the hospital steamship Mauritius and sent to China where he was in medical charge of the 2nd Division, British Expeditionary Force. He died there on 4 November 1860 and was buried in the Russian cemetery, Pekin.

Publications

• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . Prize Thesis. Inaugural Dissertation on the Influence of Climate on the Health and Mortality of the Inhabitants of the Different Regions of the Globe . Medical Faculty, University of Edinburgh, MD . Edinburgh . John Carfrae & Son . 1837 . Wellcome Collection.
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . ART. VII1.-A Statistical Inquiry on Fever, being an attempt to ascertain the prevalence, susceptibility, intensity, and prognosis, with some observations on the influence of Medical Treatment . Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal . 50 . 136 . 87–118 . 1 July 1838 . 30330241 . 5772278 .
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . Art. V. On the Doctrine of Acclimatization . The Madras Quarterly Medical Review . 2 . Union Press . Madras . 1840 . 69–76 .
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . Article IV. Could the natives of a temperate climate colonize and increase in a tropical country and vice versa? . Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay . 6 . Bombay . Medical and Physical Society of Bombay . 112–138 . 1843 .
• Book: Thomson, Arthur Saunders . Pukapuka ki nga tangata Maori, hei tohu i a ratou i te mate koroputaputa . Akarana (Auckland) . Williamson & Wilson . 1849 . NLNZ.
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . On the Influence of the Climate of New Zealand in the Production of Disease among Emigrants from Great Britain . Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal . 74 . 184 . 82–91 . 1 July 1850 . 30331077 . 5800638 .
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . A Statistical Account of Auckland, New Zealand, as it was Observed During the Year 1848 . Journal of the Statistical Society of London . 14 . 3 . 227–249 . September 1851 . 10.2307/2338338 . 2338338 . JSTOR.
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . III.—Observations on the Stature, Bodily Weight, Magnitude of Chest, and Physical Strength of the New Zealand Race of Men . Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London . 23 . London . John Murray . 87–93 . 1853 . 10.2307/1797950• . 1 July 2024 . JSTOR.
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . On the Discovery of a Frog in New Zealand . The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal . 55 . 109 . Edinburgh . Adam and Charles Black . 66–69 . July 1853 .
• Book: Thomson, Arthur Saunders . Observations on the Climate of the North Island of New Zealand . New Zealand. Further Papers Relative to the Affairs of New Zealand. 1860 . London . Her Majesty's Stationery Office . 16–23 . 10 December 1853 . https://books.google.com/books?id=jqxbAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22Observations+on+the+climate+of+the+North+Island+of+New+Zealand%22+thomson&pg=PA16.
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . Description of Two Caves in the North Island of New Zealand, in which were found Bones of the large extinct wingless Bird, called the Natives, Moa, and by the Naturalists Dinornis; with some general Observations on the Genus of Birds . The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal . 56 . 112 . Edinburgh . Adam and Charles Black . 268–295 . April 1854 .
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . On the Peculiarities in Figure, the Disfigurations, and the Customs of the New Zealanders; with Remarks on Their Diseases, and on Their Modes of Treatment . The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review . 13 . 26 . 489–502 . April 1854 . 30331077 . 5800638 .
• Thomson . Arthur Saunders . On the Peculiarities in Figure, the Disfigurations, and the Customs of the New Zealanders; with Remarks on Their Diseases, and on Their Modes of Treatment . The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review . 15 . 30 . 520–529 . April 1855 . 30164355 . 5184339 .
• Book: Thomson, Arthur Saunders . The Story of New Zealand: Past and Present, Savage and Civilized . 1 . London . John Murray . 1859 . Internet Archive.
• Book: Thomson, Arthur Saunders . The Story of New Zealand: Past and Present, Savage and Civilized . 2 . London . John Murray . 1859 . Internet Archive.

Notes and References

1. Book: Stationers' Hall . The Monthly Record of Births, Deaths & Marriages A–Z for the Month Ending January 1, 1861 . Alfred Knowler and Mrs. Janet Taylor . London . 1861 . 121 .
2. Book: Johnston, William . Howell . Harry Arthur Leonard . Roll of Commissioned Officers of the Medical Service of the British Army . The University Press . Aberdeen . 1917 . 304 .
3. Obituary. The Late Dr. Arthur S. Thomson . The Medical Times and Gazette. Journal of Medical Science, Literature, Criticism, and News . 1 . John Churchill . London . 26 January 1861 . 103 .
4. Book: Hart, Henry George . Henry George Hart . The New Army List for 1839 . Smith, Elder & Co. . London . 1839 . 68 .
5. Book: Hart, Henry George . Henry George Hart . The New Army List for 1842 . John Murray . London . 1842 . 168 .
6. Book: Hart, Henry George . Henry George Hart . The New Army List for 1847 . 8 . John Murray . London . 1847 . 140 .
7. Book: Hart, Henry George . Henry George Hart . The New Army List for 1848 . 9 . John Murray . London . 1848 . 209 .
8. Book: Boyd, Kelly . Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing . 1999 . Taylor & Francis . Chicago . 978-1-884964-33-6 . 870 .
9. News: Hospital Staff . The London Gazette . 10 December 1858 . 22208 . 5386 .