Towards the close of last century there was in the City of London, England,
a prominent mercantile house which carried on business under the style of
"J. Thomson, T. Bonar & Co." The branch of commerce to which this house
chiefly devoted its attention was the Russian trade. It had existed,
under various styles, for more than a hundred years, and had built up so
extensive a trade as to have a branch establishment at the Russian capital.
The senior partner of the firm was John Thomson of Waverley Abbey, and
Roehampton, in the county of Surrey. In the year 1820 this gentleman
assumed the name of Poulett--in remembrance of his mother, who was heiress
of a branch of the family of that name--and he was afterwards known as John
Poulett Thomson. In 1781 he married Miss Charlotte Jacob, daughter of a
physician at Salisbury. By this lady he had a numerous family, consisting
of nine children. The youngest of these, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson,
destined to be the first governor of United Canada, and to be raised to
the peerage under the title of Baron Sydenham, was born on the 13th
of September, 1799, at the family seat in Surrey--Waverley Abbey,
above-mentioned. His mother had long been in delicate health, and at the
time of his birth was so feeble as to give rise to much solicitude as to
her chances of recovery. She finally rallied, but for some months she led
the life of an invalid. Her feebleness reflected itself in the constitution
of her son, who never attained to much physical strength. The feebleness of
his body was doubtless increased by the nervous activity of his intellect,
which constantly impelled him to mental feats incompatible with his
delicate frame. It may be said that he passed through the forty-two
years which made up the measure of his life in a chronic state of bodily
infirmity. The fret and worry incidental to an ambitious parliamentary and
official career doubtless also contributed their share to the shortening of
his life.