The City Of Dreadful Night

James Thomson was born in Port Glasgow, Scotland on November 23rd 1834. He was raised in Holloway, London in the Royal Caledonian Asylum an orphanage after his father was incapacitated by a stroke. He was educated at the Caledonian Asylum and then the Royal Military Academy before serving in Ireland. In his late 20s Thomson left the military and returned to London, where he worked as a clerk. For the remainder of his life James submitted stories, essays and poems to various publications, including the National Reformer, which published the sombre yet remarkable ‘City Of Dreadful Night’ which remains his most famous work. Its origins lie in his battles with insomnia, alcoholism and chronic depression which plagued Thomson's final decade. He died in London at the age of 47. His pseudonym, Bysshe Vanolis, derives from the names of the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Novalis and distinguishes him from the earlier Scottish poet James Thomson.