Robert Holmes (baptised 30 November 1748 - 12 November 1805) was an English poet, churchman, academic, and biblical scholar.[1]
Robert Holmes (1748-1805), Alfred: An ode; with six sonnets (1778). Gale Ecco, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Holmes was baptised at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, the son of Edmund Holmes of that parish.[1]
He became a scholar of Winchester College in 1760.[1]
He then went to New College, Oxford, matriculating on 3 March 1767. He earned a B.A. in 1770, was elected fellow of his college, and then earned M.A. (in 1774), B.D. (in 1787), and D.D. (in 1789) degrees.[1]
Career[]
He was presented to the college rectory of Stanton St. John, Oxfordshire.[1]
His earliest publication was a sermon preached before the University of Oxford, entitled The Resurrection of the Body deduced from the Resurrection of Christ, 1777 (2nd edit. 1779). In 1778 he published an imitation of Thomas Gray, called Alfred: An Ode; with six sonnets.[1]
In 1782 he was chosen Bampton lecturer, and during the same year published his 8 lectures On the Prophecies and Testimony of John the Baptist, and the parallel Prophecies of Jesus Christ. In 1783, he composed An Ode for the Encoenia held at Oxford July 1703. In 1788 he issued Four Tracts: On the Principles of Religion as a Test of Divine Authority; On the Principles of Redemption; On the Angelical Message to the Virgin Mary; On the Resurrection of the Body; with a Discourse on Humility.[1]
In 1788 Holmes commenced his collation of the manuscripts of the Septuagint, and published in Latin an account of the method which he thought should be followed. The task, on which he gave annual bulletins, was not finished by the time of his death, but an edition was finally published in 5 volumes to 1827 by his collaborator James Parsons.[1]
Nor was Holmes a physically indolent man.[2] He was a keen sportsman who, according to Jan Morris, "walking out from college in full canonicals, used to be met by a servant with a hat, a gun and a dog - and throwing off his cassock and surplice, to reveal shooting clothes below, off he would stride to Stanton Woods for an afternoon's sport." [3] When his old New College friend James Woodforde visited him on 18 October 1793 he discovered that "He had gone out a shooting & did not return till five in the Afternoon".[4] Woodforde had found Dr Holmes's wife to be "a very agreeable Woman, and his Sister is very pleasant, exactly like him."[4]
Holmes became prebendary of Lyme and Halstock in Salisbury Cathedral on 23 May 1790, prebendary of Moreton-with-Whaddon in Hereford Cathedral] on 12 August 1791, prebendary of the seventh stall in Christ Church, Oxford, on 28 April 1795, and Dean of Winchester on 20 February 1804.[1]
He died at his house in St. Giles, Oxford. Most of his treatises and discourses were republished with others in 1806.[1]
Recognition[]
At Cambridge, Holmes won the Chancellor's Prize for Latin verse (on the subject Ars Pingendi) in 1769, the year of its institution.[1]
He succeeded John Randolph as Oxford Professor of Poetry in 1783.[1]
On 14 December 1797 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Alfred: An ode; with six sonnets. Oxford: Clarendon Press, for Daniel Prince, 1778.
- Ode for the Encaenia Held at Oxford, July 1793. Oxford, UK: J. Cooke / J. Fletcher, 1793.
Non-fiction[]
The resurrection of the body, deduced from the resurrection of Christ, and illustrated from His transfiguration. A Sermon. Oxford, UK: Daniel Prince, 1777.
- On the Prophecies and Testimony of John the Baptist, and the Parallel Prophecies of Jesus Christ: Eight sermons. Oxford, UK: D. Prince / J. Cooke, 1782.
- Apud viros, qui videntur critices sacræ literas habuisse cognitas et perspectas. Oxford, UK: 1788.
- Four Tracts. Oxford, UK: D. Prince / J. Cooke, 1788.
- A Sermon Preached before the Honourable House of Commons. London: T. Payne, 1796.
- The ... Annual Account of the Collation of the MSS. of the Septuagint-version. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1789-1800.
Edited[]
- Rev. Shute Barrington, Epistolae. Oxford, UK: J. Cooke / J. Fletcher / Hanwell / London: T. Payne / B. White / P. Elmsly, 1795.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]
See also[]
| Preceded by John Randolph |
Oxford Professor of Poetry 1783-1793 |
Succeeded by James Hurdis |
References[]
Goodwin, Gordon (1891) "Holmes, Robert (1748-1805)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 27 London: Smith, Elder, p. 197 . Wikisource, Web, July 13, 2016.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Goodwin, 197.
- ↑ Martin Brayne, Two Lives of Robert Holmes, Parson Woodforde Society Quarterly Journal, Vol. XXXI, 3
- ↑ J. Morris, Oxford, 1978
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 P. Jameson [ed.], The Diary of James Woodforde, Vol. 13, 1791–1793, Parson Woodforde Society, 2003.
- ↑ Search results = au:Robert Holmes, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 13, 2016.
External links[]
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Holmes, Robert (1748-1805)
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