Ernest Radcliffe Bond
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Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ernest Radcliffe Bond OBE, QPM |
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| Nickname(s) | Commander X |
| Born |
1 March 1919 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria |
| Died | 20 November 2003 (aged 84) Welling, Greater London |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 British ArmyMetropolitan Police Service |
| Years of service | 1935–1946 (army) 1946–1976 (police) |
| Rank |
Deputy Assistant Commissioner (police) Sergeant |
| Unit |
Scots Guards No. 8 (Guards) Commando Special Service Brigade (became Special Air Service) Metropolitan Police Service |
| Battles/wars |
Norway Tripoli |
| Spouse(s) | Mabel Phoebe Isabell Laming |
| Relations | Two sons and two daughters |
Ernest Radcliffe Bond, OBE, QPM, (1 March 1919 – 20 November 2003), also called Commander X, was a British soldier, and later policeman famous for his service in the Metropolitan Police Service. He married the 23-year-old Mabel Laming and they remained together until Mabel's death in 1992.
Bond experienced the Fraud Squad, the Flying Squad, the Murder Squad, and became the first commander of the newly formed Bomb Squad (later the Anti-Terrorist Branch, now merged into Counter Terrorism Command). His notable achievements in the bomb squad were negotiating the rise of The Angry Brigade, eventually jailing several members. The other major event he negotiated as commander with the Bomb Squad was the Balcombe Street siege, in which two people were taken hostage by four Irish Republican Army members, who demanded a plane to Ireland. Bond, answering the demands, refused saying that the police "are not going to make any deals". The gunmen surrendered, the event a success for police with no casualties on either side.
Ernest Radcliffe Bond was born on 1 March 1919 in Barrow-in-Furness, where he lived in a "close-knit community" at 58 John Street. His father, William Edward Bond, was a shipyard worker, and his mother was Annie Elizabeth Bond née Radcliffe. Bond was an apprentice French polisher after he left school.
Bond joined the British Army on 16 September 1935, entering the 2nd battalion of the Scots Guards. His objective was to fight in any short engagement that he could, and then to become a police officer. He was sent to Palestine to help with the Arab Revolt. However, his plan was scuppered by the outbreak of World War II, and he stayed with his battalion, serving first in Norway as a sergeant. After a short time in No. 8 (Guards) Commando, where he served in a group of units under Robert Laycock's command fighting in the Middle East in 1941, by that time Bond had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. The unit was disbanded, and he journeyed to North Africa with his original battalion in the Scots Guards, fighting in the Eighth Army.
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