Royal Commonwealth Society : A Cypriote boy

Thomson, John (1837-1921)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>John Thomson (1837-1921) was born and educated in Edinburgh, where he studied chemistry and took up photography. He moved to the Far East in 1862, settling first in Penang and then in Singapore and Hong Kong. Thomson made a number of important photographic tours, visiting Ceylon [Sri Lanka], India, Thailand, Vietnam and China before returning to Britain. In 1878, he travelled to Cyprus and took many photographs, publishing his work in ‘Through Cyprus with the camera’. In 1886 the Royal Geographic Society appointed him photographic tutor to explorers.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> 'The boy represented is the son of the priest of Avgoru [? Avgorou]. The higher dignitaries of the Greek Church are not permitted to marry; but the papa may be wedded, subject to the condition that the union was effected before his consecration.’</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FCobham%2FY3018B%2F27'>here</a></p>