John Sparrow David Thompson - Legacy

Legacy

Thompson's collected papers were donated in 1949 to the National Archives of Canada by his son, Colonel John Thompson.

Although subjective, a ranking of the Canadian Prime Ministers was published by J.L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer in 1997. A survey of 26 Canadian historians determined that Thompson was ranked #10 of the 20 people who had at that time served as Canadian PM. He was identified as "The great "might-have-been" of Canadian Prime Ministers...", whose potentially promising career was cut short by his early death. A follow-up article co-authored by Hillmer in 2011 broadened the survey to include survey responses of over 100 historians; in this survey, Thompson was ranked 14th out the 22 who had by then served as PM.

The high school in the Canadian sitcom Life with Derek, SJST, is named after Thompson. Sir John Thompson Catholic Junior High School in Edmonton is named for him. Thompson appears as a prominent character in Paul Marlowe's novel Knights of the Sea (set in 1887 when Thompson was Minister of Justice).

Since 1996, Mr. Thompson's former home in Ottawa at 237 Metcalfe Street is the national office of the Canadian Soccer Association.

Nova Scotian artist William Valentine painted Thompson's portrait.