William Burns Thomson (1821 – April 29, 1893) was a Scottish medical missionary born in Kirriemuir, Scotland to Christian parents.
During his time with EMMS, Dr. Thomson advocated for missionaries across the globe, including Dr. Kaloost Vartan of the Nazareth Hospital and Dr. William Jackson Elmslie in Kashmir.
This led to more training schools being created in other parts of the world, like Bombay(now known as Mumbai) and Calcutta(now known as Kolkata), India.
[1] At the age of 17, Thomson and a friend decided to dedicate their lives to the church by joining the ministry and they began Sabbath- school teaching.
At age 20, William's brother left him in charge of Golspie and during his time leading this school, he is said to have influenced a student to join the ministry.
In order to support himself, Thomson worked as a private teacher but his first experiences were said to have been bad and he had little success finding a teaching job.
[1] Through this, he and his successors, John Lowe and Sargood Fry, were able to train at least 200 medical missionaries for the Protestant Church.
[1] A year after leaving 39 Cowgate and the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, Dr. Thomson wrote that throughout the months he was away from the dispensary he was able to connect more with god.
In addition to reconnecting with his religious beliefs, Dr. Thomson began missionary work in The Canongate and set up a hospital there.
On multiple occasions, in his autobiography and in his address at the Mildmay Park Conference in London in 1869, he mentions how his work as a doctor served as an asset to his religious mission.