Peter Thompson

Sir Peter Thompson was an English merchant, collector and MP.

He was a younger son of Captain Thomas Thompson of Poole, Dorset. He became an eminent merchant in Bermondsey, London, trading in Hamburg and Newfoundland.He was made High Sheriff of Surrey for 1745-46 and knighted the same year. He sat in Parliament as MP for St Albans from 1747 to 1754. He developed a considerable political influence in his native town.

He built a large town house in Poole. A well-known antiquary and collector, fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, he formed a valuable library and museum in his house at Poole.

He died unmarried.