Alexander Alexander Thomson was one of the passengers in the ill-fated air-liner City of Liverpool* which crashed on the Belgian coast on March 28th, 1933. He was 52 years of age.
In July, 1908, he obtained the degree of B.Sc. at Aberdeen University, and two years later he graduated from the Royal School of Mines with the A.R.S.M. He started his professional career in October 1906, at the Washoe smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., and a year later he was at the Steptoe Valley smelter, Ely, Nevada.
The following year he went to Northern Rhodesia as manager of the Kansanshi mine. In April, 1911, he joined the staff of Sir R. Williams & Co. in Katanga, and while thus engaged he also acted as joint-secretary to the technical committee of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga.
In January, 1916, he returned to England and joined the 254th Tunnelling Co., R.E., in which he served in France and Belgium until the close of the War, when he was gazetted out of the Army with the rank of Captain.
He returned to Africa in January, 1919, as the representative of Sir R. Williams, Bart., & Co., and as personal representative of Sir Robert Williams. In February, 1929, he was appointed director of the British Non-ferrous Mining Corporation, Ltd., and of the Société Générale des forces hydro-electrique du Katanga.
Mr. Thomson was admitted to Studentship of the Institution in 1903, and was transferred to Associateship in 1912 and to Membership in 1929. At the date of his untimely death, he was a Member of Council.
Vol. 43, Trans IMM 1933-34, p.768
*[An Armstrong Whitworth Argosy II passenger aircraft, operated by Imperial Airways, which crashed near Diksmuide, Belgium, after suffering an on-board fire, killing all twelve passengers and three crew. There were claims of sabotage, but the inquest returned an open verdict.]
