Charles Tompson
Charles Tompson | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 26, 1807 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | January 5, 1883 (aged 75) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupations | Poet, public servant |
Charles Tompson (26 June 1807 – 5 January 1883)[1] was an Australian public servant, and it is claimed he was the first published Australian-born poet.
Tompson was born in 1806 in Sydney. He was the first child of the farmer Charles Tompson (c1784–1871) and his wife, Elizabeth, née Boggis.[1] His father was a former convict. Tompson was educated by Henry Fulton in Castlereagh and then became a public servant. He published a collection of poetry, Wild Notes, from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel, in 1826.
He wrote another poem titled Australia. A Translation of the Latin Prize Poem of S. Smith, a Student of Hyde Abbey School, Winchester. It was published in the Sydney Gazette on 17 December 1829,[1] and then in pamphlet form.
Tompson married Hannah Morris on 12 April 1830 at St Matthew's Church, Windsor. He worked as a clerk and lived in Kent Street, Sydney.[1] He moved to Penrith in 1836, where he was a clerk of petty sessions. Later he was a clerk at Camden.
He then became a clerk for the Legislative Council of New South Wales and the legislative assembly. He retired on 31 January 1869 and died in Sydney on 5 January 1883.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e 'Tompson, Charles (1807–1883)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 2, MUP, 1967, p. 533. Retrieved 2010-01-12
- Serle, Percival (1949). "Tompson, Charles". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 12 January 2010.