1868, 7 February
C. Thurston Thompson (Obituary)

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Journal of the Society of Arts, Volume XIV, No.794, February 7, 1868, p.236.
 
C. Thurston Thompson, the well-known photographer, died at Paris on the 20th of January, after a painful illness and considerable suffering. Since his return from Spain, in the early part of 1867, his health has been anything but good, and during his stay in Paris, where he was assisting in the arrangement of the photographic section of the British portion of the Exhibition, he was the victim of two very severe attacks of jaundice. He was the son of the eminent engraver, Mr. John Thompson, and was born in 1816. After receiving his education at Dr. Mitchell's, in Kensington, he studied the art of wood engraving under the able tuition of his father, and soon became an expert in that art. He drew and engraved a considerable number of the illustrations of "Yarrell's British Birds." Associated with Mr. Bingham, he was appointed to superintend the production of the photographs which were taken of the Exhibition of 1851. In the following year he proceeded to Paris, and remained some time in Mr. Bingham's studio. On his return to England he received a commission from the Department of Practical Art to photograph the collection of furniture then being exhibited at Gore-house, where the department was located temporarily. In 1855, as in 1851, and subsequently in 1862 and 1867, he was appointed Superintendent of tho Photographic Class of the British Section of the Exhibition. Whilst in Paris he executed photographs of objects selected from French provincial museums. In his own special department of photography, the reproduction of pictures and works of art, he had no equal in this country and was unsurpassed by any abroad. His refined taste and knowledge of art, derived from his early training, rendered him peculiarly fitted for his work; and in consequence of his distinguished abilities he was permanently appointed official photographer to the South Kensington Museum in 1856, after his return from the Paris Exhibition of 1855. It would be almost impossible to enumerate all his works, but it may be interesting to state that amongst his foremost are the photographs of the Raffaelle cartoons, Turner's "Liber Studiorum," Her Majesty's collection of arms at Windsor, the wedding presents of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, many objects from the Kensington Museum, and lastly, and perhaps most important, an exceedingly interesting series of photographs of the collections belonging to the King of Portugal in the royal palace of Necessidades, at Lisbon, and a series of photographs of ancient ecclesiastical and domestic architecture in Spain. His loss to the Photographic Society, in which he was for many years an active member of the council, as well as to the South Kensington Museum, is indeed a severe one.
 
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