John Turnbull Thomson
Encyclopedia
John Turnbull Thomson was a British
civil engineer
and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure
of nineteenth century Singapore
and New Zealand
.
, England
. He was the third child of Alexander Thomson and his wife, Janet, née Turnbull.
After his father was killed in a hunting
accident in 1830, the young Thomson and his mother went to live in Abbey St. Bathans
, Berwickshire
. He was educated at Wooler and Duns Academy, later spending some time attached to Marischal College
, Aberdeen
, and Edinburgh University before studying engineering
at Peter Nicholson's School of Engineering at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Thomson arrived in the Malay Straits
in 1838 and was employed by the East India Survey. In 1841 he was appointed Government Surveyor at Singapore and in 1844 became Superintendent
of Road
s and Public Works
.
He was responsible for the design and construction of a number of notable engineering works including bridge
s, roads, and hospital
s. He conducted the allotment survey
of Singapore, the topographical survey of the island of Singapore and its dependencies, and the marine
survey of the Straits of Singapore and the east coast
s of Johore and Penang
. His outstanding achievement was the erection of the Horsburgh Lighthouse
on Pedra Branca.
In 1853 his health failed and he returned to England where he studied modern engineering techniques, and travelled widely through Britain
and the Continent
inspecting engineering works. Early in 1856 he emigrated to New Zealand
, where he worked as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province
until 1873. From 1876 until 1879 he was Surveyor-General of New Zealand.
From 1856 until 1858 Thomson surveyed and explored large sections of the interior of the South Island
, covering most of the southern half of the island. Many names in the area bear witness to Thomson's Northumbrian background, though there is a widespread belief that the naming of many places was through a disagreement with the New Zealand surveying authorities. It has long been suggested that Thomson originally intended to give traditional Maori
names to many places, but these names were refused. In response, Thomson gave prosaic Northumbrian names to many places, often simply in the form of a Northumbrian dialectic name for an animal. The Maniototo
region around the town of Ranfurly
, Central Otago
is rife with such names as Kyeburn, Gimmerburn, Hoggetburn, and Wedderburn as a result, and the area is still occasionally referred to as "Thomson's Barnyard".
Thomson was a founder of the Otago
and Southland
Institutes of New Zealand, to which he contributed numerous papers on scientific subjects including ethnological studies. Through his knowledge of Hindustani
and Malay
, he became interested in comparative linguistics
and developed a theory of racial diffusion based on philological evidence.
He was also a keen amateur painter
of landscape
s, working mostly in oil
s. His painting
s have little artistic merit but from a topographical viewpoint are of some interest today.
Thomson married Jane Williamson of Dunedin
in 1876. He died at his home on 16 October 1884. By marriage he was related to the Hall-Jones family, whose number included William Hall-Jones
, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand
.
Thomson was responsible for the planning of the city of Invercargill in Southland, New Zealand and his mausoleum is in the St. John's Cemetery in Waikiwi, Invercargill. Descendants have written numerous books which contain authoritative information on his life in southern new Zealand and should be easily found by searching the name "John Hall-Jones" as author.
Several extant places, roads and buildings in Singapore are named after J.T. Thomson. These include:
Area
Roads
Amenities
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
of nineteenth century Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Biography
Thomson was born on 10 August 1821, at Glorum, NorthumberlandNorthumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was the third child of Alexander Thomson and his wife, Janet, née Turnbull.
After his father was killed in a hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
accident in 1830, the young Thomson and his mother went to live in Abbey St. Bathans
Abbey St. Bathans
Abbey St Bathans is a community in Berwickshire in the eastern part of the Scottish Borders.Although its name suggests a larger foundation, Abbey St Bathans was originally a priory of Cistercian Nuns...
, Berwickshire
Berwickshire
Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...
. He was educated at Wooler and Duns Academy, later spending some time attached to Marischal College
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
, Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, and Edinburgh University before studying engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at Peter Nicholson's School of Engineering at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Thomson arrived in the Malay Straits
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
in 1838 and was employed by the East India Survey. In 1841 he was appointed Government Surveyor at Singapore and in 1844 became Superintendent
Superintendent (construction)
On larger projects, it is common for most finance-related tasks and long-term scheduling to be handled by a project manager, with the superintendent's job limited to running the day-to-day operations on the construction site and controlling the short-term schedule...
of Road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
s and Public Works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
.
He was responsible for the design and construction of a number of notable engineering works including bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s, roads, and hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s. He conducted the allotment survey
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
of Singapore, the topographical survey of the island of Singapore and its dependencies, and the marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
survey of the Straits of Singapore and the east coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
s of Johore and Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
. His outstanding achievement was the erection of the Horsburgh Lighthouse
Horsburgh lighthouse
The Horsburgh Lighthouse is a lighthouse which marks the eastern entrance to the Straits of Singapore. It is situated on Pedra Branca island...
on Pedra Branca.
In 1853 his health failed and he returned to England where he studied modern engineering techniques, and travelled widely through Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and the Continent
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
inspecting engineering works. Early in 1856 he emigrated to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where he worked as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province
Otago Province
The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Area:The capital of the province was Dunedin...
until 1873. From 1876 until 1879 he was Surveyor-General of New Zealand.
From 1856 until 1858 Thomson surveyed and explored large sections of the interior of the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
, covering most of the southern half of the island. Many names in the area bear witness to Thomson's Northumbrian background, though there is a widespread belief that the naming of many places was through a disagreement with the New Zealand surveying authorities. It has long been suggested that Thomson originally intended to give traditional Maori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
names to many places, but these names were refused. In response, Thomson gave prosaic Northumbrian names to many places, often simply in the form of a Northumbrian dialectic name for an animal. The Maniototo
Maniototo
The Maniototo Plain, usually simply known as The Maniototo, is an elevated inland region in Otago, New Zealand. The region roughly surrounds the upper reaches of the Taieri River and the Manuherikia River. It is bounded by the Kakanui Range to the north and the Rock and Pillar Range to the southeast...
region around the town of Ranfurly
Ranfurly, New Zealand
Ranfurly is the largest settlement in the Maniototo district of Otago, New Zealand. Located 110 kilometres north of Dunedin, it lies in dry rough country at a moderately high altitude close to a small tributary of the Taieri River. It is a service town for the local farming community...
, Central Otago
Central Otago
Central Otago is the inland part of the New Zealand region of Otago in the South Island. The area commonly known as Central Otago includes both the Central Otago District and the Queenstown-Lakes District to the west....
is rife with such names as Kyeburn, Gimmerburn, Hoggetburn, and Wedderburn as a result, and the area is still occasionally referred to as "Thomson's Barnyard".
Thomson was a founder of the Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
and Southland
Southland Region
Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region and is also a district within that region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura...
Institutes of New Zealand, to which he contributed numerous papers on scientific subjects including ethnological studies. Through his knowledge of Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
and Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
, he became interested in comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
and developed a theory of racial diffusion based on philological evidence.
He was also a keen amateur painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of landscape
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
s, working mostly in oil
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s. His painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s have little artistic merit but from a topographical viewpoint are of some interest today.
Thomson married Jane Williamson of Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
in 1876. He died at his home on 16 October 1884. By marriage he was related to the Hall-Jones family, whose number included William Hall-Jones
William Hall-Jones
Sir William Hall-Jones, KCMG was the 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand from June 1906 until August 1906. He was the interim Prime Minister after the death of Richard Seddon and the return from overseas of Joseph Ward....
, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
.
Thomson was responsible for the planning of the city of Invercargill in Southland, New Zealand and his mausoleum is in the St. John's Cemetery in Waikiwi, Invercargill. Descendants have written numerous books which contain authoritative information on his life in southern new Zealand and should be easily found by searching the name "John Hall-Jones" as author.
Legacy in Singapore
During his government service in Singapore, Thomson was responsible for many projects:- Thomson's 1852 report on Singapore's water supplyWater supplyWater supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...
led in 1862 to approval of the Thomson Reservoir, now MacRitchie ReservoirMacRitchie ReservoirMacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore's oldest reservoir. The reservoir was completed in 1868 by impounding water from an earth embankment, and was then known as the Impounding Reservoir or Thomson Reservoir....
. - He made an elaborate survey of the Straits of Singapore, in conjunction with Captain Congalton who was largely responsible for clearing pirates from MalayanBritish MalayaBritish Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
waters. He also surveyed Keppel HarbourKeppel HarbourKeppel Harbour is a stretch of water in Singapore between the mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa. Its naturally sheltered and deep waters was to meet the requirements of British colonists attempting to establish a Far East maritime colony in that part of the world, and...
. - He carried out repairs and lowering of the Coleman BridgeColeman Bridge, SingaporeColeman Bridge is a vehicular bridge in Singapore. The bridge links Hill Street and New Bridge Road, spanning the Singapore River near Clarke Quay...
. - He was the architectArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and builder of:- Horsburgh LighthouseHorsburgh lighthouseThe Horsburgh Lighthouse is a lighthouse which marks the eastern entrance to the Straits of Singapore. It is situated on Pedra Branca island...
on Pedra Branca, - Hajjah Fatimah Mosque,
- the spireSpireA spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
for the St. Andrew's CathedralSt. Andrew's Cathedral, SingaporeSaint Andrew's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Singapore, the country's largest cathedral. It is located near City Hall MRT Interchange in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. It is the Cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and...
, - Dalhousie ObeliskDalhousie ObeliskThe Dalhousie Obelisk is a memorial obelisk in the Civic District of Singapore, located on the north bank of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district....
, a monument, - European Seaman's Hospital,
- the first bridge across the Kallang RiverKallang RiverThe Kallang River flows for 10 kilometres from the Lower Peirce Reservoir to the coast at Nicoll Highway, making it the longest river in Singapore...
, known as Thomson Bridge, and - Tan Tock Seng HospitalTan Tock Seng HospitalThe Tan Tock Seng Hospital is the second-largest hospital in Singapore after the Singapore General Hospital, but its accident and emergency department is the busiest in the country largely due to its geographically centralised location...
at Serangoon RoadSerangoon RoadSerangoon Road is a road from Little India to Boon Keng of Singapore . There is another road, from Woodsville Interchange to Sengkang called Upper Serangoon Road.Another way is via Jalan Besar and Bendemeer Road....
.
- Horsburgh Lighthouse
Several extant places, roads and buildings in Singapore are named after J.T. Thomson. These include:
Area
- ThomsonThomson, SingaporeThomson is a relatively narrow area stretching from Novena in the Central Region of Singapore up north till Yishun. The area is mainly located within the central catchment area where some of Singapore's reservoirs are located, including MacRitchie Reservoir, Upper Peirce Reservoir and Lower Peirce...
, a region in central Singapore
Roads
- Thomson RoadThomson Road, SingaporeThomson Road is a major trunk road linking Singapore's central business district with the northern suburban areas. Taking its name from John Turnbull Thomson, a Scotsman who was the Government Surveyor and Chief Engineer of the Straits Settlements from 1841 to 1853 and who helped build many roads...
, the arterial road that runs through the Thomson area - Jalan Lembah Thomson
- Old Upper Thomson Road
- Thomson Close
- Thomson Green
- Thomson Heights
- Thomson Hill
- Thomson Hills Drive
- Thomson Ridge
- Thomson Terrace
- Thomson View
- Thomson Walk
- Upper Thomson Road
Amenities
- Thomson Medical CentreThomson Medical CentreThomson Medical Centre Limited is a 190 bed private hospital located at Thomson Road in Singapore. The hospital specialises in gynaecology and in vitro fertilisation...
- Thomson/Whitley Park