Thomas Jefferson Thompson
Thomas Jefferson Thompson (1829-1907)
1907 Obituary [1]
THOMAS JEFFERSON THOMPSON, fifth son of the late Mr. Ross Thompson, of Greenwood Park, County Down, was born on the 13th September, 1829, and received his engineering training in the works of Messrs. Kitson and Company, of Leeds, and under the late Mr. John Goodwin, of Belfast.
After serving as Assistant Engineer on the Armagh and Monaghan Railway during its construction, he went to Spain in 1858, on the staff of Mr. Charles Blacker Vignoles, Past-President, then Chief Engineer of the Bilbao and Tudela Railway, to carry out surveys for the line over the Pyrenees, on the completion of which he was appointed Engineer in charge of a division under construction.
In 1862 he made a survey of the district between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, Natal, for [James Abernethy|Mr. James Abernethy]], Past-President, and in the following year he was appointed Superintendent and Chief Engineer of the Bahia and Sao Francisco Railway in Brazil, remaining in charge until 1870, when for family reasons he was obliged to return home, but continued to act as Consulting Engineer to the company in London until 1873.
In 1874 he entered the service of the Canadian Government, and took charge of surveys for the Canadian Pacific Railway through difficult country around the north of Lake Superior, afterwards acting as District Engineer on the construction of 80 miles of line eastward from Winnipeg.
Between 1881 and 1885 he was engaged on the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande and other railways in America.
He then returned to Ireland, where he carried out various harbour works for the Government Board of Works. Advancing in years, he was obliged practically to retire from active work in 1897.
He died at Rostrevor, County Down, on the 18th March, 1907, aged 78.
Mr. Thompson was elected a Member of The Institution on the 5th February, 1867.