MA MB ChB Aberdeen 1911, DPh 1914; DPM Manch 1925.
After gaining his medical education in Aberdeen and holding house appointments there, Thomson was appointed junior AMO to the County Mental Hospital in Cheddleton. He was later appointed deputy medical superintendent to Cheadle Royal, an appointment he held for 27 years. Thomson was a member of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association and was an external examiner in psychiatry for the University of Manchester.