William Leslie Thomson attended school in Penicuik, then at St Andrew's School, Perth. After training at the Church of Scotland Training College in Edinburgh, he entered the University of Edinburgh to study mathematics and physics, graduating in 1891. He then was awarded a scholarship to allow him to study mathematics at Caius College, Cambridge. He was a Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1894.
Thomson then became a school teacher, teaching mathematics first in in Kirkwall, then at Kilmarnock Academy. In 1899 J W Butters left George Heriot's School in Edinburgh to become Rector at the Academy in Ardrossan. Thomson was appointed to George Heriot's School to fill the vacancy and he taught there until he retired in 1928.
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
July 2007