Heraldry was one of his hobbies, and in his early life he assisted investigations of family history.
[1] Thomson died at his rooms in the Institution on 2 January 1865, aged 70.
He was buried at Kensal Green cemetery, in the grave of a brother who had predeceased him.
[1] The catalogue of the London Institution library, issued in four volumes between 1835 and 1852, was compiled mostly by Thomson.
Thomson contributed poems imitating major authors to A Garland for the New Royal Exchange (1845), edited by Sir William Tite.