Surname: Thomson Forename(s): James b. 23 November 1834. d. 3 June 1882. Nationality: Scottish. VIAF.
Major working-class poet. Pseudonyms: “B. V.,” “Bysshe Vanolis.” Atheist and freethinker.
Born at Port Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and partly brought up in a London orphanage. Suffered
from depression and alcoholism. Author of The City of Dreadful Night (1880). Biographical information: ODNB. (AC)