Editing John Sparrow David Thompson (section)

==Death in office==
[[File:John Thompson Grave, Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg|thumb|John Thompson Grave, [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax|Holy Cross Cemetery]], [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]]]]
Thompson had been [[Prime Minister of Canada]] for only two years when he died suddenly from a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] at the age of 49 on December 12, 1894. He was at England's [[Windsor Castle]], where [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] had just made him a member of her [[Imperial Privy Council|Privy Council]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26579 |date=December 14, 1894 |page=7347}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080607022457/http://leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil2.htm leighrayment.com]}}</ref> Thompson's physical condition had deteriorated during his time in Ottawa; he was significantly overweight when he died (standing {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m}}, he weighed about {{convert|225|lb|kg|lk=on}}), and had always pushed himself very hard in his work.

Thompson was the second of two Canadian prime ministers to die in office (the first being John A. Macdonald), and the only one to die out of Canada. (Three retired prime ministers died out of Canada:  [[Charles Tupper]], [[Richard Bedford Bennett]], and [[Brian Mulroney]]). He also lived the shortest lifespan that any Canadian Prime Minister has lived in history.

After an elaborate funeral was staged for him in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] by [[Queen Victoria]], Thompson's remains were transported back to Canada aboard the armoured cruiser {{HMS|Blenheim|1890|6}}, which was painted black for the occasion. He was buried on January 3, 1895, in the [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax|Holy Cross Cemetery]] in Halifax, Nova Scotia.<ref name="CanBio"/><ref name="Parks_Grave">{{cite web |url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/sep-gra/thompson |website=Former Prime Ministers and Their Grave Sites |title=The Honourable Sir John David Sparrow Thompson |date=April 1, 2017|publisher=Parks Canada |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211222252/https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/sep-gra/thompson |archive-date=December 11, 2017}}</ref>

Despite having held prime ministerial office, Thompson had little estate, so Parliament set up a fund to support his widow and children. The Canadian politician [[Margaret Mitchell (Canadian politician)|Margaret Mitchell]], who died March 8, 2017,<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-statement-loss-margaret-mitchell |title=NDP statement on the loss of Margaret Mitchell |date=March 9, 2017}}</ref> is considered the last of Thompson's descendants.