Walter H. Thompson

Detective Inspector Walter Henry Thompson (3 December 1890 – 18 January 1978) was a British police officer who is best known as the bodyguard of Winston Churchill for eighteen years, between 1921 and 1935, and between 1939 and 1945 during World War II. Thompson reportedly saved Churchill's life on numerous occasions. When he finally retired after the war, he published a memoir that made him famous in the United Kingdom and the Western world.

Early life and career

Thompson grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Brixton in south London. One of a family of thirteen children, he was employed in a number of jobs before becoming a PC in Bayswater. He initially operated out of the Paddington Green Police Station. When the suffragette movement gained momentum, the police expanded the Special Branch.

While working at a grocer's shop he had bought with his family, on 22 August 1939 he received a telegram that called him back into service as Churchill's bodyguard. On the same day, Thompson resumed his official duties with Scotland Yard, when Churchill rejoined the Cabinet on the outbreak of war.

He was with Churchill so much that he was a "perpetual annoyance" to Churchill's wife, Clementine. For his service protecting Churchill and his country, Thompson was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 1943 Birthday Honours by George VI. Thompson unexpectedly resigned as Churchill's bodyguard and from Scotland Yard duties following VE Day celebrations in May 1945. Churchill's gratitude to Thompson was evident when he presented him with his own personal cheque to reward the man who kept him safe during the war years and he graciously extended an open invitation for him to visit "when and wherever I am."

Thompson died of cancer on 18 January 1978 in Yeovil, Somerset, aged 87 years.

After Thompson's death, his great-niece, Linda Stoker, discovered the full memoir manuscript inside a suitcase in a Somerset farmhouse loft.

In media - Total pages: 255 - Total pages: 200 - Total pages: 92 - Total pages: 144 In 2005 13-part television series, on UKTV History, with Dennis Waterman reciting excerpts from Thompson's journal (originally broadcast between November and December 2005). On DVD, the documentary series is entitled Churchill's Bodyguard.