A bronchial medical problem meant he was sent to his uncle's house in Ayrshire, and in October 1813 he entered the University of Glasgow as "Thomas Thomson", dropping the middle name after a disagreement with the Napier family.
[1] After entering the divinity hall as a student for the ministry, Thomson was reduced to poverty by his father's money troubles.
In July 1844 he left London for Edinburgh, where he had been appointed by the Scottish Free Church editor of a series of works it was about to publish.
In his college days he produced also Richard Gordon, The Christian Martyr, A Visit to Dalgarnock, and The City of the Sun.
He also wrote extensively for the periodical press, and biographical and critical notices for The Book of the Poets: Chaucer to Beattie (London, 1842).
The Free Church series of which Thomson was editor comprised the Select Practical Writings of John Knox and others.
[1][2][3] In 1851 Thomson wrote a supplementary volume of Robert Chambers's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, and immediately before his death he prepared a new edition (3 vols., revised and continued with a supplement) which was published between 1869 and 1871.