Peter Thompson (antiquarian)

Sir Peter Thompson House, Poole

Sir Peter Thompson (30 October 1698 – 31 October 1770) was an English merchant, collector and MP.

He was a younger son of Captain Thomas Thompson of Poole, Dorset.

He became an eminent merchant in Bermondsey, London, trading in Hamburg and Newfoundland. He was made High Sheriff of Surrey for 1745-46 and knighted the same year. In 1746, he travelled to Berlin during the War of the Austrian Succession.[1] He sat in Parliament as MP for St Albans from 1747 to 1754.[2]

He built a large town house in Poole, now a grade I listed building,[3] and became a collector and antiquary, being created a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and, in 1746, a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1][4]

Thompson was a friend of Joseph Ames (author),[5] and died unmarried and was succeeded by his brother James.[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b Le doute philosophique: philosophie classique et littérature clandestine (in French). Presses Paris Sorbonne. 2002. p. 147. ISBN 9782840502357. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. ^ "THOMPSON, Sir Peter (1698-1770), of Mill St., Bermondsey and Market St., Poole, Dorset". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  3. ^ Historic England. "SIR PETER THOMPSON HOUSE (1224145)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Fellow Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  5. ^ Carpenter, Audrey T. (October 2011). John Theophilus Desaguliers: A Natural Philosopher, Engineer and Freemason in Newtonian England. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 9781441173478. Retrieved 2 October 2016.