Sam Weller - A Design for the Duncannon Murals

Thomson was born in Bangalore, India, where his father was a British civil servant. Deaf from birth he was educated at the Royal School for Deaf Children at Margate. Although he spent some time at the London Art School in Kensington he was a largely self-taught artist and initially worked as a commercial artist and poster designer. Thomson was an Official War Artist to the Royal Air Force in World War II and in 1942 took over the post from which Eric Kennington had recently resigned. In 1945 he was elected to the Royal Academy and became a respected society portrait painter and muralist. In the 1920s Thomson created a series of murals with a Pickwickian theme for the Duncannon Hotel in London. The scheme was a great success and the depictions of Mr Pickwick and his friends attracted many visitors to the bar of the hotel. However, in 1931 the hotel was scheduled for demolition and despite the pleadings of Thomson and other admirers to have the murals saved and removed from the walls they were destroyed along with the building.