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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Councillor James Porteous Thomson

Councillor James Porteous Thomson was born in Dalkeith, Scotland, in the year 1859, and is the son of Mr James Thomson, draper. He was educated in Dalkeith, and was afterwards apprenticed to his father. Mr. Thomson then went to London, and was for six years in the old-established drapery house of Messrs John Lewis and Company, in Oxford Street, where he be came buyer for the fancy department. He came to New Zealand in 1885, via Melbourne, by the s.s. “Garonne,” and was for a year in Dunedin, as manager of the fancy department of Messrs S. II. Carter and Company. He then removed to Timaru, and began business with his brother, under the style of Messrs T. and J. Thomson. He sold out his interest to his brother two years later, and opened his present business in Napier. Mr. Thomson joined the volunteers in Dalkeith in 1878. He joined the Napier Rifles in 1888, obtained a lieutenant's commission in 1895, passed for a captain's certificate, and received the rank of captain in August, 1898. As a member of the council of the Highland Society since its inception, he takes an interest in Caledonian sports, and is a director of the Star Bowkett Building Society. Mr. Thomson is a Justice of the Peace, a member of the Napier Borough Council, has been president of the Napier Bowling Club, and as a Freemason is secretary of Lodge Scinde. He married a daughter of Mr. William Newman, of Wincanton, Somerset, England, in 1885, and has one son and one daughter. Mr. Thomson is further referred to as a draper and importer in Emerson Street.

Councillor J. P. Thomson.

Councillor J. P. Thomson.

The Bluff, Napier.

The Bluff, Napier.