 In 1877, he was host to the German botanist, Wilhelm Kalbreyer who had been sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to search for plants in "that unhealthy region".Amongst the plants discovered by Kalbreyer was an epiphytic orchid of the genus "Pachystoma", which was named "Pachystoma thomsonianum" in Thomson's honour.Thomson died in Victoria from malaria on 14 December 1878.