Alexander Thom (surgeon)

Alexander Thom (1775 to 1845) was a Scottish-born military surgeon who made his later career in Upper Canada, now part of Ontario. Born in Scotland, the son of a farmer, he studied at King's College in Aberdeen, joined the British Army and became a surgeon in 1799. He served with the 41st Foot in Lower Canada from 1803 to 1813 and was taken prisoner during the War of 1812. In 1815 he was chosen as surgeon for the military settlement at Perth in Upper Canada and served as its doctor until 1822, while also building a sawmill and a gristmill on the Tay River. He later became a justice of the peace and, in 1835, a judge of the district court, and he won a by-election to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in February 1836, though he was defeated in the general election held later that year. He died at Perth in 1845.