Thoms

Thoms, WILLIAM JOHN (1803-85), antiquary, was born at Westminster, and entered the secretary's office in Chelsea Hospital in youth. In 1828 he published a Collection of Early Prose Romances (3 vols.), and followed it up by various other useful and interesting books, such as The Book of the Court (1838), Caxton's Reynard the Fox (1844), and The Longevity of Man (1873). He is best remembered, perhaps, as the editor and one of the founders of Notes and Queries. He was deputy librarian to the House of Lords.