He was born in
Edinburgh on 8 October 1890 the son of
John Arthur Thomson FRSE and his wife Margaret Stewart. The family lived at 10 Kilmaurs Road. He was educated at the
Royal High School, Edinburgh until 1899, when his father moved to
Aberdeen as Professor of Natural History at
Aberdeen University. Arthur completed his education at
Aberdeen Grammar School. The family then lived at 15 Chanonry in Aberdeen. Arthur then studied Natural History (under his own father) at Aberdeen University, graduating MA in 1911. In the
First World War he served as a Lt Colonel in the
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He received a Military OBE for his services. After the war (from 1919) he became a medical researcher and remained in this role until retiral in 1957. He was created a Commander of the Order of the Bath for this work in 1933 by King
George VI and knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II for this work in 1953. In 1962 the
Royal Society's
Buchanan Medal for services to medicine. In 1938 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
James Ritchie, Sir
David Wilkie (surgeon),
Charles Henry O'Donoghue and
William Kalman. He was president of the
British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) from 1948 to 1955. He was President of the Zoological Society 1946 to 1950. He was Chairman of the
British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) from 1941 to 1947 and won the Trust's
Bernard Tucker Medal in 1957. In 1959 he was awarded the BOU's
Godman-Salvin Medal. He died at
Queen Mary's Hospital in
Roehampton on 9 June 1977. ==Family==