author

Walter Thom

1770–1824

A Scottish writer and journalist who moved from Aberdeen bookselling into newspaper work in Dublin, he is best remembered for his early history of Aberdeen and a lively book on competitive walking. His life seems to have crossed trade, publishing, and politics, giving his work an appealing sense of real-world experience.

1 Audiobook

Pedestrianism; or, An Account of the Performances of Celebrated Pedestrians During the Last and Present Century.

Pedestrianism; or, An Account of the Performances of Celebrated Pedestrians During the Last and Present Century.

by Walter Thom

About the author

Walter Thom was a Scottish writer and journalist, born in 1770 at Bervie in Kincardineshire. Sources agree that he later settled in Aberdeen, where he worked as a bookseller and built a reputation as a writer on historical and statistical subjects.

He is best known for The History of Aberdeen (1811), a substantial account of the city, and for Pedestrianism (1813), a curious and energetic work about celebrated walkers and training. Some accounts also credit him with contributions to larger reference works and public surveys of Scotland, which fits the picture of a practical, wide-ranging man of letters.

In 1813 he moved to Dublin to edit the Dublin Journal, with his son Alexander Thom later assisting him. He died in Dublin on June 16, 1824; Alexander went on to become a notable publisher in Ireland, so Walter Thom's literary and printing legacy continued through the family.