Charles Poulett Thomson, Baron Sydenham

Charles Poulett Thomson, Baron Sydenham (born September 13, 1799, Wimbledon, Surrey, England—died September 19, 1841, Kingston, Canada West) was a merchant and statesman who, as British governor general of Canada in 1839–41, helped to develop that country’s basic institutions of government. The son of a merchant, Thomson joined the St. Petersburg office of his father’s firm at age 16. He was member of Parliament for Dover, Kent, in 1826–30 and took up the cause of...