George Thompson (shipowner)

George Thompson (1804–1895) was the founder of a shipping line called the Aberdeen Line and a Liberal politician.

His father, Andrew Thomson (sic), served in the Royal Regiment of Artillery before joining the East India Company in 1805.

George Thompson (always known as George Thompson Junior to distinguish himself from his grandfather) was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School. He then joined the Aberdeen office of the London Shipping Company. In 1825, aged 21, he set up his own business as a ship and insurance broker, with offices in Aberdeen. In the same year his name first appeared as a subscribing owner of a small Aberdeen ship, and his shipowning interests rapidly developed. He also traded the imports which his vessels brought back to Aberdeen.

George Thompson served as Provost of Aberdeen from 1847 to 1850. The highlight of his term of office was welcoming Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Aberdeen on 8 September 1848. They were on their way to Balmoral for the first time. This was the first occasion a monarch had visited Aberdeen since 1650. A crowd of 80,000 people turned out to greet her.

In 1852 he was persuaded to stand as a Liberal candidate for Aberdeen and defeated another Liberal, Andrew Leith Hay by 682 votes to 478. He was an advocate of further parliamentary reform, and associated with Richard Cobden and John Bright in the repeal of the Corn Laws. After retiring from Parliament in 1857, he took no further part in politics.

In his first 15 years George Thompson operated a seasonal liner service to Canada and built up a fleet of a dozen vessels with trades extending to Cuba, South America, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, South Africa and the Far East. 1840 saw the launch of the first ship built at Walter Hood's yard in Aberdeen for George Thompson, and this yard built most of his ships up to 1881. They included some of the world's finest clippers.

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