Alexander Thom (almanac editor)

He was born at Findhorn in Moray, the son of the writer and journalist Walter Thom. He was educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and went to Dublin at age 20 to assist his father in the management of the Dublin Journal. On his father's death he obtained, through the influence of Sir Robert Peel, the contract for printing for the post office in Ireland. In 1838 he obtained the contract for the printing for all royal commissions in Ireland, and in 1876 was appointed to the post of Queen's Printer for Ireland.^[1]

In 1844, Thom founded the work for which he is known, the Irish Almanac and Official Directory, which became a leader in its field, incorporating statistics relating to Ireland.^[1]

At the beginning of the 1852 edition, a page-long introduction, or 'Advertisement', was included, in which an un-named author, presumably Thom himself, reflected briefly upon the history of the publication:

A very brief inspection of the Volume of The Irish Almanac and Official Directory for the year 1852, will suffice to show that the Publisher, so far from relaxing his exertions to maintain the preference bestowed on the work since its commencement in 1845, has used every means afforded him to render it still more worthy of the influential and years increasing patronage with which it has been honoured.^[2]

Thom supervised its publication for over 30 years, passing the copyright to his son-in-law Frederick Pilkington in 1876.^[3] "Thom's Directory" was revised annually; in 1960 it was split into Thom's Dublin Street Directory and Thom's Commercial Directory, revised in alternate years until 2012.^[4] James Joyce relied heavily on the 1904 edition when writing Ulysses.^[5]

In 1860, he published for free distribution A Collection of Tracts and Treatises illustrative of the Natural History, Antiquities, and the Political and Social State of Ireland, two volumes^[6][7] which contain reprints of writers on Irish affairs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Included are works of James Ware, Edmund Spenser, Sir John Davies, William Petty, George Berkeley, and others such as Gerard Boate, Thomas Prior and Arthur Dobbs.^[1]

In 1878, during a printers' strike in Dublin, Thom sent work to Scotland. The resulting publicity brought the issue to the attention of the Westminster Parliament.^[8]

Thom, who was twice married, died at his residence, Donnycarney House, near Dublin, on 22 December 1879.^[1][9]

• Isaac Slater