Thompson was educated at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown[4] and later at the University of Cape Town where obtained a B.A.
Two years later, in September 1946, he accepted, along with his brother, an appointment as an acting judge on the Cape Provincial Division.
His judgments were "well ordered, lucidly expressed in carefully chosen language and meticulous in their attention to the points in issue".
He became an acting judge of appeal in 1957 and became a permanent member of the Appellate Division bench in June 1958.
[1]: 683 He died in Kenilworth, Cape Town in 1992, leaving his wife, Eve, and children, Julian and Virginia.