Tom Mahir
British police officer (1915–1970)
Thomas Edward Mahir CBE GM (1 March 1915 – 29 January 1970) was a British police officer in the London Metropolitan Police.
Mahir was the son of the Reverend Edward Mahir and his wife Dorothy. He was educated at Crewkerne School in Somerset and taught at St Aubyn's Preparatory School in Tiverton, Devon, from 1932 to 1935, when he entered Hendon Police College as a direct entrant. He passed out in 1936, was confirmed as a Junior Station Inspector in 1937 and served in "G" and "H" Divisions in the East End of London. He was promoted Station Inspector in 1939.
In April 1941, Mahir was awarded the George Medal (GM) for his bravery following an air raid. His citation reads:
When a bomb demolished two houses, the roof and chimney stack of one house fell across the ruins of the other and the whole formed a heap of wreckage about fifteen feet high. Station Inspector Mahir and Junior Station Inspector Gott tore away debris and found a hole down which Mahir crawled. A man, buried up to the chin, was pinned down by a rafter, in a cavity about seven feet deep and two feet wide. Gott had the mouth of the hole widened and then crawled down to joint Mahir.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tom Mahir” as british police officer (1915–1970). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as british police officer (1915–1970). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7816686. VIAF identifies the subject as 166018556. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915, 1970, 1932 and 1935.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. 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.
- 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 “Tom Mahir”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tom Mahir primary sources, Tom Mahir archive and Mahir 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 “Tom Mahir”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tom Mahir” 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.