Maurice Tomlin
British police commissioner (1868-1945)
Major Maurice Hilliard Tomlin OBE (28 June 1868 – 10 August 1945) was a British Army and police officer.
Tomlin was born in Brompton, London to John Leonard Tomlin and Frances Elizabeth Tomlin.
He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Green Howards in February 1888. He was promoted lieutenant and Adjutant in June 1891 and served with the West African Frontier Force on the Niger in 1897–1898, for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted captain in April 1900 and served with the mounted infantry in the closing stages of the Second Boer War in 1901, being again mentioned in despatches for gallantry in June 1901 and taking command of a battalion as a Local Major in January 1902. Following the end of the war, he received a brevet promotion as major in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and returned to the United Kingdom on the SS Briton three months later. He was appointed a company commander at Sandhurst in February 1904. He was promoted to the substantive rank of major in March 1907 and retired in July 1907. In April 1908, however, he became a brigade major in the Territorial Force, serving until 1912.
Tomlin was appointed a Chief Constable in the Metropolitan Police in December 1912.
“Maurice Tomlin” enters the record as british police commissioner (1868-1945). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Maurice, Tomlin and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Maurice Tomlin” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Maurice, Tomlin and British provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6793502. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1868, 1945, 1888 and 1891.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Maurice Tomlin”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Maurice Tomlin primary sources, Maurice Tomlin archive and Maurice research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Maurice Tomlin”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Maurice Tomlin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.