Reverend Adam ThomsonPrint Page

The window, which is located in St Andrew's College Chapel, commemorates Adam Thomson (1813-1874), Presbyterian minister.

When St Andrew's College was founded he was elected to the first council in November 1870. After the validity of the initial election of Rev. John Kinross was challenged by Rev. J. D. Lang, Thomson was chosen first principal on 24 September 1873. He developed a throat infection and died on 8 November 1874.

The Reverend Adam Thomson, Principal of St. Andrew's College in connection with the University of Sydney, departed this life on Sunday night, the 8th instant. His death came suddenly, but the close was not wholly unexpected. He had long ailed, and for some time past, his failing strength gave all who saw him cause to fear that their friend could not long linger here. Years of physical harassment, patiently borne, shortened a life early dedicated to the service of his God, and now he is at rest. He was educated in the University of Edinburgh for the ministry of the Secession Church of which his father Dr.Thomson, of Coldstream, was a specially distinguished and respected minister.

His ordination took place before he was twenty-one, and in the congregation at Hawick, where he was ordained, he remained till broken health compelled him to seek, in New South Wales, a more congenial climate. He became the minister of Phillip-street Church, Sydney in 1861, and continued to discharge with his own marked humility, the pastoral duties, until he was elected to the Principalship of St. Andrew's College in 1873. Apart from his ministerial work, he tendered and unequalled services to the cause of Presbyterian Union in this colony.
Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW),  21 November 1874.

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