SINGAPORE - Retired deputy director of prisons Edwin Oliver Thompson, who in 1974 was the first senior police officer to be seconded to the then Prisons Department, died on Oct 18, aged 91.
Mr Thompson, who had been in failing health for the last few months, died of kidney failure in hospital, said his daughter Wendy.
His ground-breaking service as prisons deputy chief till January 1986 prefigured the secondment of successive senior police officers, starting with Mr Tee Tua Ba, who came in as director of prisons two years later.
They were pivotal leaders who transformed and upgraded the Singapore Prison Service over time to the model system in place today.
Tall, urbane and personable, Mr Thompson cut an impressive figure in uniform and led the police contingent in the Republic’s first National Day Parade at the Padang in 1966. He also served as an aide-de-camp to then president Yusof Ishak, among other things.
Mr Thompson’s humble and hard beginnings, together with the harsh experience during the Japanese Occupation in his early life, shaped both his career and character.
His father died when he was three, and he was brought up by his mother, whom he helped support by selling curry puffs in the East Coast area during his secondary school days, said Mr Kenneth Victor, a close relative, in his eulogy at the funeral.
In 1952, Mr Thompson joined the police force as a probationary inspector, and his subsequent career spanned some 34 years in a wide range of posts. He retired as an officer in the civil service’s superscale grade.
From his first posting to the security branch and as an escort to the then governor of Singapore, he advanced to occupy posts at the Police Academy, Queenstown Police Station, and the Criminal Investigation Department.
One of his first encounters as prisons deputy director in 1974 was witnessing the execution of eight convicted killers at Changi Prison at 6am. They included six men convicted of the “Gold Bar” murders. He was both unfazed and unflinching at this first experience, and spoke of the encounter in Oral History Centre interviews years after he retired.
Active in sports administration, he also served as secretary-general of the then Asian Cycling Federation, announcing the 1974 landmark admission of China as a member of the federation at an event in the Philippines.
“He was the most principled man I have ever known, having high values and going the extra mile to help,” said Mr Victor, adding that Mr Thompson was also unfailing in his humour.
Mr Thompson is survived by his wife Joyce and daughter Wendy.
A record of oral history centre interviews can be accessed at the online platform of the National Archives of Singapore (Thompson, Edwin Oliver, The Public Service, Accession Number 003062).
