McManus 168

Described in an obituary as “a wiry, muscular man, of great activity of mind and administrative talent”^[7] Patrick Hunter Thoms was the son of George Thoms, Baillie of Dundee and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter.^[28] He was educated at Dundee Grammar School and the Academy, followed by the University of St Andrews.^[7] He was originally destined for a career in the ministry, but delicate health precluded intensive studies.^[9]

Shortly after being enrolled as a burgess the offices of kirk master and chamberlain, previously occupied by councillors, were combined for a salary of £100 and Patrick was appointed. The skill with which Thoms “unravelled the maze into which the Town’s accounts had fallen and made them intelligible, fully vindicated his appointment”. He held the office for fourteen years, and when he resigned it on 14 March 1833, in consequence of the increase of his private business, the Council recorded in the minutes “approbation of the manner in which he had fulfilled the duties of the Chamberlainship.”^[9]

Thoms was Provost of Dundee from 1847 to 1853 and was selected as a parliamentary candidate in 1857, but stood down to allow John Ogilvy of Inverquharity, who became Liberal MP for Dundee, to stand.^[25] During his time as provost, it was he who fought to have the statues of George Kinloch and Sir Robert Peel erected,^[7] of which the former now stands at the back of the McManus galleries on Meadowside, although the latter was not brought to fruition.

He was a Justice of the Peace for the Dundee District of Forfarshire and held the office of Deputy Lieutenant for Forfarshire.^[7] In 1881 he was recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms and matriculated his arms at the Lyons Court,^[7] becoming the 15th de jure Chief of the Clan MacThomas.^[28]

In Dundee he lived at Crescent House,^[29] in the future Windsor Street and late in life he purchased the Estate of Aberlemno, some 500 acres, living at the farmhouse of Tillywhandland.^[25] His wife died in 1868^[30] and he continued to divide his time between Crescent House and Aberlemno. He shared his Dundee home with his niece, Eliza Jane Walker, and three servants in 1871,^[31] but was living there with two servants shortly before his death in 1882.^[32] The value of his estate on his death was £101,755 11s. 7d. His sons, George and Thomas, acted as his executors.^[33] His surviving daughter, Grace, married John Anderson MD, Professor of Geology at the University of Calcutta and curator of the museum there.^[25] A large part of their personal collection of Japanese objects is in the British Museum.^[34] His eldest son, George, was an Edinburgh advocate. latterly becoming Vice Admiral of the Islands of Shetland and Orkney and Emeritus Sheriff of the Counties of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland.^[35] His other son, Thomas, was a merchant in Dundee and a fellow donor to the Albert Institute.