William Montgomerie Thomson: Difference between revisions

Born on 2 December 1877, William Thomson was the fourth son of Captain William Thomson of the [[78th Highlanders]] and Alice Broughton. His older brother was [[Henry Broughton Thomson]]; [[Gwyneth Bebb]] married another brother, Thomas Weldon Thomson. He was educated at [[Bedford School]].

 

 

On 16 November 1918, in [[Bandar-e Anzali]], Thomson met with [[Nasib Yusifbeyli]], [[Musa bey Rafiyev]] and [[Ahmet Ağaoğlu]], representatives of [[Musavat]], the governing party of the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] (ADR). He outlined his goals as (i) ensuring the evacuation of military units of the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Army]] and the ADR from Baku, (ii) preventing Armenian troops from entering Baku, (iii) creating a [[British Empire|British]] administration of local militia, (iv) facilitating the supply of oil from the Baku oilfields for the British, and (v) securing the eastern terminus of the [[Transcaucasus Railway]]. He denied that the [[British Empire|British]] would interfere in internal affairs: "The principle of self-determination of peoples decided at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] from which Azerbaijan will not be excluded".<ref>{{Citation