520 Biographical Sketch of 



North-Eastern Railway Company became one of the greatest and 

 most successful of commercial undertakings ; and, moreover, he 

 founded and guided the ever extending United Companies Rail- 

 way Association. Mr. Thompson's is a fine example of an 

 honourable and unselfish ambition, by unsparing energy over- 

 coming such drawbacks as natural shyness and reserve ; and, 

 perhaps, an invincible tendency towards exceeding minuteness. 



By way of further preface, we would sketch in some other un-: 

 doubted characteristics : — with tact to guide, with gentle wisdom 

 to draw, and with sufficient power of expression to give effect to 

 both, he was a patient man, of clear perception that went straight 

 to his point ; passionately fond of work — overwork — he delighted 

 in setting wrong to rights, and establishing order where he found 

 utter confusion. Always ready to help others to bear their burdens, 

 he kept many irons in the fire, and yet allowed none to cool. 

 A careful gleaner of opinion, consequently a good listener, he 

 was never in a fuss or hurry, nor irritable nor boastful. The 

 key to the knowledge of others was in his hands, for in early 

 life he knew himself and recognised the essentially practical 

 bent of his own talent. And " passing show," which he detested, 

 he had above all things an ever-abiding sense of over-ruling 

 Providence. 



Let Mr. Thompson's exact position be understood at the out- 

 set. He gained honours at college, but was never a literary 

 man. He made a dive into the ocean of science, and brought 

 up one scientific pearl of great price, of which more hereafter, 

 but he was never a man of science. Science and literature he 

 regarded but only as they conduced to his practical objects. In 

 agriculture his position was between the Professor of Science 

 and the man of practice-^he stood mid-way — a beneficent 

 interpreter. " The first attempts of the Farmer and Philosopher 

 to run in couples were not encouraging ; " these are Mr. Thomp- 

 son's own words ; " they conversed in unknown tongues." 



Heir to a fine estate, Harry Stephen Thompson was born at 

 Newby Park, in Yorkshire, on the 11th of August, 1809. A 

 clever, shy child, apt for work, he could read and sum at three, 

 and knew somethino^ of Latin grammar at five. Being a delicate 

 boy, his father sensibly thought that the absorption of knowledge 

 was better than the now fashionable cram, so on his pony the 

 boy trotted down every day to the Parsonage, his pockets as well 

 as his memory bulging with the familiar Virgil and Horace — 

 never forgetting, however, to visit by the way to and fro a 

 certain stockyard, where he kept rat-traps constantly going ; and 

 a neighbouring barn-wall told of his characteristic energy, lor it 

 did many a tail unfold. As a boy, and through life, he was a 

 fine shot and fond of shooting. When eighteen he was sent to 



