 Tompson senior had been convicted at Warwick, England, in March 1802, and arrived in Sydney aboard the "Coromandel" in May 1804.Tompson junior was educated at the Henry Fulton's school at Castlereagh, and entered the New South Wales public service.In 1826 he published "Wild Notes, from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel", by Charles Tompson, jun., the first volume of verse by one of the native-born to be published in Australia.