List of Famous people named Thomas

Thomas Dempster was a Scottish scholar and historian. Born into the aristocracy in Aberdeenshire, which comprises regions of both the Scottish highlands and the Scottish lowlands, he was sent abroad as a youth for his education. The Dempsters were Catholic in an increasingly Protestant country and had a reputation for being quarrelsome. Thomas' brother James, outlawed for an attack on his father, spent some years as a pirate in the northern islands, escaped by volunteering for military service in the Low Countries and was drawn and quartered there for insubordination. Thomas' father lost the family fortune in clan feuding and was beheaded for forgery.

Thomas Carlin, a farmer, soldier and Jacksonian Democrat, was the seventh Governor of Illinois and also served in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. He became the first Democrat nominated at an Illinois state convention, as well as the last Illinois governor who fought Native Americans. His gubernatorial term was noted for its inconsistency, as he had limited financial experience and the state suffered the aftereffects of the Panic of 1837 as well attempted to fund a costly Internal Improvements Act passed by the state legislature over his predecessor's objections.