Page:A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry Vol 1.djvu/397

 P.rinvK'.S COLOXTAL OEXTRY. 30: THOMSON, the late JOHN TURNBULL, Esq. of Lennel, Gladstone, Invercargill, New Zealand, late surveyor-general of New Zealand, b. lOfcb August, 1821, at Glororum, near Batnborough, Northumberland, England ; educated at Danse Academy and at Wooler, and studied further at Marischal College, Aberdeen. He afterwards studied engineering, under an eminent master, and was in the same oifice with the CL4ebrated Sir William Ai-mstroug. He TO. 7th October, 1858, Jane, second daughter of James Williamson, Esq. of Kaikorai Bank, near Dunedin, one of the pioneer settlers of Otago (by Janet Wyse, his wife, daughter of Captain John Mackie, of Grangemouth, ship- owner), who was son of Alexander Williamson, Esq. of Bleachfield House, Falkirk, Scotland, and by her had issue, I. Janet Mackie, m. 8th February, 1888, John Logan Bush, Esq. II. Margaret Janet Turnbull, m. 19fch January, 1887, William Grant Forbes, Esq. III. Patricia Clay. IT. Clara Jane. T. Jacobina Williamson ; m. at St. Cuthbert's Church, Carham, North- umberland, 24th September, 1890, A. T. Clay, Esq., son of John Clay, Esq. of Kerchesters, Kelso. VI. Eveline Alexa. VII. Jemima Williamson, vixi. Georgina Esther. IX. Nona Eugenie. Mr. Thomson arrived in the colony of New Zealand, as early as 1856, from the Straits Settlements, where he had spent some eighteen years, and where he had been for a long period chief surveyor. He also acted there as a civil engineer, and in that capacity constructed the Horsburgh Lighthouse, which gained him a high reputation. This lighthouse, which was begun in May, 1850, and completed in July, 1851, is erected on the rock of Pedra Branca, in the China seas. On account of the Indian climate proving unsuitable to him, Mr. Thomson removed to New Zealand, where he landed in Auckland, and, proceeding south, arrived at Otago, of which province he accepted the post of chief surveyor, and his labours in that capacity led, in no small degree, to the opening up of the province — first to the squatter, and afterwards to the agriculturist. He held, for many years, the joint offices of chief surveyor, chief commissioner of Crown lands, and provincial engineer of Otago, in which last capacity he directed the work of the removal of Bell's Hill, Dunedin. He was appointed surveyor-general of the colony of New Zealand, in May, 1876, from which office he retired in 1879, when he settled in Southland, and on one of his properties, near Invercargill, built the mansion of Lennel. He was for a time mayor of Gladstone, after his retirement from the surveyor-general- ship, and, in 1881, unsuccessfully contested the representation of ilitaura in parliament. He was president of the Southland Institute, since its institution, the author of several books, and the translator of Hakarit AhduUa from the