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Robert H. Holmes

Murdered American police officer (1888–1917)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ7345057 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Henry Holmes (July 25, 1888 – August 6, 1917) was the first NYPD African-American officer to die in the line of duty.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Holmes was appointed as an NYPD police officer on August 25, 1913. He was assigned to the 38th precinct in Harlem. Officer Holmes was shot to death while chasing and exchanging gunfire with a burglar.

References

External links

Profile, FindaGrave.com; accessed November 4, 2014.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Robert H. Holmes” as murdered American police officer (1888–1917). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1888, 1917, 1913, 2014—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1888-07-25. The account is most persuasive where Robert, Holmes and Murdered can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as murdered American police officer (1888–1917). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7345057. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1917, 1913 and 2014.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Robert H. Holmes primary sources, Robert H. Holmes archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert H. Holmes” 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.