[1] Thomson moved to Hāwera in 1900 to work as a clerk with his uncle, Herbert Theodore Halliwell, a lawyer.
Thomson also served on the Stratford Hospital Board and was Chairman of the Taranaki Patriotic Council for a period following World War II.
Other local committee involvement included vice president of the Taranaki District Law Society, executive of the Municipal Association, President of the Stratford Aero Club, an elder of St Andrews Church, and a member of several horticultural associations.
[9] He left a significant bequest to be used and applied towards the establishment and maintenance of an arboretum and herbarium of the native flora of New Zealand and an art gallery.
The gallery provides an active programme of exhibitions and events that is both internally generated and toured from other art collections.