John Vaughan Thompson FLS (19 November 1779 – 21 January 1847) was a British military surgeon, marine biologist, zoologist, botanist, and published naturalist.

[1] John Vaughan Thompson was born in British controlled Brooklyn on Long-Island in the Province of New York, North America on the 19th November 1779.

[2] He grew up around Berwick-upon-Tweed where he wrote his first book A Catalogue of Plants Growing in the Vicinity of Berwick Upon Tweed which was published in 1807.

[3] In each of his military postings such as the West Indies and Guiana (1800–1809), Mauritius and Madagascar (1812–1816), he continued his natural history studies with two of his papers being read before the Linnean Society on London in 1807, the first On the genus Kaempferia in April 1807 and the second An Account of Some New Species of Piper in June; both of these were submitted on his behalf by Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth F.R.S and L.S.

While in Cork he published several works including researches and illustrations" (1828)[2] which is listed as having been taken by Charles Darwin on his famous Second voyage of HMS Beagle[5] In 1835 he was transferred to Sydney, Australia, as Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals in New South Wales, a position he held till he retired in 1844.