Fowler photograph collection

Henry Oliver Thompson (1865-1937) and Charlotte de M. Thompson were the children of Henry Fenwick Thompson (1830-1910) and Margaret Sprigg Oliver Thompson. The family lived at 78 West Monument Street in Baltimore during the 1860s.

Henry Fenwick Thompson was a non-practicing attorney and art connoisseur who made frequent trips to Europe for research in art and history archives. He wrote on these subjects for the Maryland Historical Review, was a president of the Loudon Park Cemetery Company, a vice-president of the Maryland Historical Society, and a trustee of the Peabody Institute. His father was Captain Henry Thompson, president of the National Bank of Baltimore, and his mother belonged to the Gratiot family of St. Louis, said to be among the oldest French families in that city.

Henry Oliver Thompson graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, then read law in the office of Severn Teackle Wallis. A member of the Baltimore and Maryland Bar Associations, he formed a practice with W. Hall Harris in 1896, their firm known as Harris and Thompson. Other affiliations included the University Club, the Bachelor’s Cotillon, the Hibernian Society (he was president at one point), the Delta Phi Fraternity, the Sons of the Revolution (he was registrar at one point), and the Sons of Colonial War. As an adult, Henry Oliver Thompson resided at Joppa Road near Riderwood, Baltimore County.