Cdr. Charles Ralfe Thompson, who has died in London aged 71, was personal assistant to Sir Winston Churchill, as Minister of Defence, during the 1939-45 war.
In that capacity he took a big part in making arrangements for Sir Winston's voyages by sea and air, on most of which he was thinly disguised as "Colonel Warden."
Cdr. Thompson was present at the meetings with Roosevelt, Stalin, and other war leaders. It was chiefly from his notes and recollections that Gerald Pawle wrote of Churchill in "The War and Colonel Warden."
He had become associated with Sir Winston when the war leader was First Lord of the Admiralty. He was Flag Lieutenant and Flag Commander to the Board of Admiralty from 1936 to 1940.
Mentioned in memoirs
His efficiency and unobtrusiveness was the reason that when Sir Winston went to Number 10 "Tommy" went with him.
Sir Winston mentioned him several times in his war memoirs. After a meeting with the United States President, it was decided to fly home from Bermuda in a flying boat.
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"Only Tommy, my Flag Commander, as I called him, was in terror that there would be no room for him." wrote Sir Winston. "He explained how deeply wounded he was at the idea of going home by sea."
"I reminded him of his devotion to the naval service, and of the pleasures to a hardy sailor of a life on the ocean wave."
"Steward" role
Thompson was "quite inconsolable." He persuaded one of the stewards of the flying boat to let him take his place, but the aircraft captain brushed this project aside.
"Never before and never afterwards were we separated in these excursions," wrote Sir Winston.
Cdr. Thompson was educated at Osborne and Dartmouth and served in the 1914-18 war. He specialized in submarines and was Flag Lieutenant to Commanders-in-Chief, Portsmouth. He was appointed C. M. G. in 1945.
He was well known in racing circles, having been a stipendiary steward from 1947 to 1962. Afterwards he acted occasionally as an unpaid steward at Windsor and other southern meetings.
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