Robert Mark
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Sir Robert Mark GBE QPM |
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|---|---|
| Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police | |
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In office 1972–1977 |
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| Preceded by | Sir John Waldron |
| Succeeded by | Sir David McNee |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 March 1917 Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester |
| Died | 30 September 2010 (aged 93) |
| Profession | Police officer |
Sir Robert Mark GBE QPM (13 March 1917 – 30 September 2010) was an English police officer who served as Chief Constable of Leicester City Police, and later as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1972 to 1977.
Mark was the first Metropolitan Commissioner to have risen through all the ranks from the lowest to the highest (a route followed by all subsequent Commissioners), although a few predecessors had served as Constables prior to fast-track promotion.
Mark was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, a suburb of Manchester, the youngest of five children of a prosperous mantle manufacturer originally from Yorkshire. He was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, where he was undistinguished academically, but became captain of rugby and head prefect.
When he left school in 1935 he got a job as a carpet salesman, but finding this boring, in 1937 he joined Manchester City Police as a constable, much to the dismay of his father, who considered it beneath him and said becoming a policeman was only one step above going to prison. While still a probationer he joined the plain clothes branch, mainly dealing with vice, and in 1938 he joined Special Branch.
In 1942 he joined the British Army, trained at Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the Royal Armoured Corps in October 1943. He initially served with the 108th Regiment (Lancashire Fusiliers), but through the influence of his elder brother James, who worked at the War Office, he then transferred to the Manchester Regiment in December 1943, attached to the GHQ Liaison Regiment, known as Phantom, which provided liaison with special forces units. With them, he took part in the Normandy Landings. In 1945 he was promoted Captain and posted to the military government in Germany, where he remained until his demobilisation as a Major in 1947.
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