The son of a merchant of Kingston upon Hull, he received his early education at Beverley, and later at Hampstead under Dr. Cox, formerly of Harrow School.
[1] On 10 January 1771, perhaps through the influence of David Garrick, he was promoted to the rank of commander and appointed to the Kingfisher, in service in the North Sea on preventive work.
[1] In May 1778 Thompson was appointed to HMS Hyaena, a small frigate, which early in 1779 he took out to the West Indies, returning to England with convoy in September.
In December the Hyaena was attached to the fleet which under Sir George Brydges Rodney relieved Gibraltar, and was sent home with despatches.
On 29 March 1781 Thompson wrote from Barbados that under the admiral's orders he was going to take Berbice and establish colonies at Demerara and Essequibo.
Rodney had returned to England; Sir Samuel Hood, left in command, had gone to New York; and in November, Thompson, at the request of merchants, convoyed their trade to Barbados.
In his absence, the Guiana colonies were captured by a small French squadron; and on 1 April Thompson was tried by court-martial on the charge of having left his station and returned to England without orders.
[1] His 'Sailor's Letters, written to his Select Friends in England during his Voyages and Travels in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, from the year 1754 to 1759' (2 vols.
In 1773 he altered from the old play of Charles Shadwell 'The Fair Quaker: or the Humours of the Navy,’ which was produced at Drury Lane on 11 November 1773 and then printed.
[1] In 1784 he visited Charles Murray, the British consul at Madeira, and while there wrote his 'nautic poem' entitled 'Bello Monte,’ in which he describes the discovery of the island.