Thompson, J. M.: - James M. Thompson was born in 1878, the son of an Anglican reverend. Thompson was raised and educated in the country before completing a degree in theology and philosophy at Oxford.
This education was intended to prepare him for the Anglican clergy and he was duly ordained in 1903. In 1906, Thompson became Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford. His deanship was controversial, chiefly because of Thompson's theological writings, which challenged existing church doctrine and led several Anglican prelates to demand his replacement.