into the accounts of the navy, and visiting America in connection with his deceased mother's property there, he returned to England in 1827, and was appointed clerk of the Council of New Smith Wales, arriving in Sydney in Dec. 1828. Five years later he married Anna Maria, second daughter of General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B., then Governor of the colony, who survived him and died on Feb. 3rd, 1884, aged seventy-seven. In 1837 he was appointed Colonial Secretary and Registrar of Records, and a member of the Executive and Legislative Councils in succession to Mr. Macleay, who had been removed from office by his father-in-law. From 1843, when the Legislative Council became partially elective, he represented the Government in that Chamber until 1854, when he obtained leave of absence for two years on account of ill-health. On May 20th, 1853, a select committee of the Legislative Council was appointed to prepare a Constitution Bill; and this having been passed shortly before his departure for England, he was appointed conjointly with Mr. Wentworth to watch its progress through the British Parliament. He was also appointed one of the Commissioners for the colony at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. A service of plate was presented to him in appreciation of his public services, and the sum of £1000, subscribed in excess, was by him devoted to the establishment of a scholarship in the University for the encouragement of physical science. In 1856 he retired from the public service on a pension. At the election of 1856 he was asked to allow himself to be nominated for Sydney, but the state of his health compelled him to decline. He represented the Parker Government in the Upper House as Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1856 to 1857. In 1861 he resigned his seat in the Legislative Council in conjunction with Sir W. W. Burton and eighteen other members, in order to thwart the attempt of the Cowper Ministry to coerce that body by swamping it with twenty-one new members. In the same year, however, he accepted a nomination to the existing Legislative Council. Sir Edward, who was created K.C.M.G. in 1878, was, in 1851, appointed a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Sydney, Vice-Chancellor in 1862, and in 1865 Chancellor, a position which increasing age induced him to resign in 1878. Sir Edward was one of the original committee which reported in favour of the establishment of a University. He died in Sydney on August 16th, 1879.
Thomson, James, son of Alexander Thomson and Martha his wife, was born on Sept. 1st, 1852, at Ballymoney, co. Derry, Ireland. He went to Geelong, Victoria, with his parents in 1853, and was educated at Geelong Presbyterian School, and at the National Grammar School, Castlemaine. He served his apprenticeship on the Argus newspaper, and subsequently joined the staff of the Kyneton Observer, of which he became editor, joining the Melbourne Daily Telegraph in 1874. He married at Trinity Church, East Melbourne, on June 1st, 1878, Alice, second daughter of the late John Leyland, contractor, Liverpool. In the intervals of press work, he acted as Secretary to the Parliamentary Boards on State Schools, Safety Mining Cages, Wattle Bark, etc., and to the Royal Commission on the Tariff. He was Secretary of Committees for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880-81, and Secretary to the Victorian Commissioners to the Calcutta and Colonial and Indian Exhibitions, the success of the Victorian Court at the latter owing much to his organising ability. He was a Commissioner for the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition of 1888. He started the Melbourne Evening Standard newspaper on April 29th, 1889, and in 1890 founded the Sporting Standard, of both of which papers he is general manager.
Thomson, James William, M.H.R., M.A., is a native of Scotland, and was educated at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1859, and settled in the Clutha district. In 1864 he was elected to the Provincial Council, and held his seat till the abolition of the provinces. Of this measure he was a strong opponent, and presided over the Convention which met at Dunedin to protest against their extinction. He was at this time returned to the New Zealand House of Representatives as member for Clutha, defeating the late Mr. James McAndrew. For this constituency he sat till 1887, when he was rejected in favour of Mr. T. Mackenzie, the present member. At the general election in Dec. 1890 Mr. Thomson was elected for Bruce by a
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