University of Virginia Library

GEORGE FREDERICK HOLMES

Holmes Hall perpetuates the name of
George Frederick Holmes, a scholar of an
extraordinary range of knowledge who
never acquired a bachelor's degree. He was
born 2 August 1820 in British Guiana,
where his father was Judge-Advocate.
Taken to England when two years old, the
child was left in Northumberland with his
maternal grandfather. Sent to school in
Sunderland, he gained a prize scholarship
at Durham University, and appeared to be
on the way to academic distinction, when
for some obscure reason the family (his
father was no longer living) cast him adrift
to Canada at the age of seventeen. There
followed a period of wandering through
Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina,
and Georgia, during which he tried teaching
and writing, made notable friends, and
gained respect and admiration wherever he
went. He tried the study of law, and was
admitted to the bar in South Carolina, but
he never practiced.

In 1845, while only twenty-five, he was
appointed Professor of Ancient Languages
at the University of Richmond. Two years
later he was Professor of History and Political
Economy at the College of William and
Mary; and a single year after that, in 1848,
he was chosen to be the first President of
the University of Mississippi. An accident
which cost him the use of one eye forced
him to resign from that post, and for the
next nine years he tried farming in southwestern
Virginia. His most productive harvest,
however, was of printed articles and
reviews on a wide variety of subjects, which
brought him in friendly touch with many
of the leading literary figures of his day.
He had meantime married the daughter of
John Floyd, at one time Governor of Virginia,
and had shouldered the responsibilities
of a family.

The decade of the 1850's was one of comparative
prosperity for the University of
Virginia, and there was a moderate increase
in students and teachers and courses. A
School of History and General Literature

was added, and in 1857 Holmes was invited
to be its first Professor. For forty years
thereafter, until his death 4 November
1897, he continued to be an active member
of the Faculty. However the alterations in
his title indicate the recognized range of
his capabilities. When in 1882 a separate
School of English Literature was introduced,
Holmes became Professor of Historical
Science, including Political Economy;
and in 1887 another division in the curriculum
found him Professor of Political
Economy and of the Science of Society.
During these years he published numerous
textbooks, readers, grammars, and a school
history of the United States. There was also
a privately printed form of his lectures on
the Science of Society, an early venture into
the field of Sociology. In March 1861, on
the eve of hostilities, he proposed, in a
document characteristically ponderous in
language and learned in allusions, that the
University undertake a special collection
to be termed "The Memorials of the American
Disruption" and to comprise "everything
that should have a bearing on the
great political dissilience of the formerly
United States of America." The project
died of inanition, and it was not until 1930
that the University seriously concentrated
on systematic efforts to conserve and make
available materials in the broad fields of
human relationship.

At the University of Virginia Professor
Holmes occupied what became the Romance
Pavilion on East Lawn. "Daddy"
Holmes, as he was familiarly known, was a
striking figure, tall and gaunt, untidy in
dress, with his hair long, but with a keenly
alert mind. His courses were comprehensive.
He was a discursive lecturer, drawing
on a wide range of experience and of reading.
He treated social and political issues
with objective detachment, not emphasizing
personal beliefs. That he did have
unswerving loyalties was revealed by a
happy event near the close of his life. In
1891 the University of Durham, cognizant
of the distinction gained by its former student
of only one year, conferred on him

the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil
Law. This he felt was a compensating
reward for a lifetime effort begun in adversity;
and when he died, six years later, it is
said that the last word he uttered was "England."
At his request he was laid to rest
beside the grave of his wife in Sweet
Springs, West Virginia. Following the Rotunda
fire, his private library was purchased,
mainly by his former students, and
presented to the University.