Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 27.djvu/197

 in the British Museum Library, as well as two anthems in Tudway's ‘Collection’ (Harl. MS. 7341, pp. 233, 453)—‘Arise, shine, O Daughter of Zion,’ 1706, written on the occasion of the union of England and Scotland, and ‘I will love Thee’—and the Funeral Service (Addit. MS. 17820). Other of his anthems are said to be in the choir-books of Lincoln. The music of Holmes's ‘Ode for St. Cecilia's Day’ no longer exists; but among his published music is ‘A Verse on St. Cecilia's Day,’ 1715, in which Bacchus is said to grace the occasion. The songs ‘Tell me, little wanton boy,’ ‘Celia's invitation,’ ‘The Resolution,’ and ‘The Man loves best,’ are also ascribed to Holmes. 

HOLMES, GEORGE (1662–1749), archivist, born at Skipton in Craven, Yorkshire, in 1662, became about 1695 clerk to Sir William Petyt, keeper of the records in the Tower of London, and for nearly sixty years acted as deputy to Petyt, and his successors Topham and Polhill. He was also barrack-master at the Tower, a fellow of the Royal Society, an early fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding. Browne Willis, Dr. Tovey, Dr. William Richardson, and other antiquaries gratefully acknowledged his assistance. From October 1707 until his death he was employed, on the nomination of Lord Halifax, chairman of committees in the House of Commons, to arrange the records deposited in the Tower at a salary of 200l. He died 16 Feb. 1748–9. He married the daughter of a sword-cutler in Fleet Street named Marshall. An only son, George, received his education at Eton, and was clerk under his father, but died at the age of twenty-five, many years before him. Mrs. Holmes, who survived her husband, received 200l. from the government and 200l. for her husband's manuscripts relating to the public records, which were deposited among the official documents at the Tower.

Holmes prepared the first seventeen volumes of the second edition of Rymer's ‘Fœdera,’ 20 vols., Lond., 1727–35, fol. He collated the documents with the originals in the Tower, and supplied many paragraphs and lines omitted in the former edition. Before this republication a set of the seventeen volumes was sold for a hundred guineas. The last three volumes are the same for both editions. The seventeenth volume of the second edition contains a general index to all the preceding volumes.

When Peter Le Neve, president of the Society of Antiquaries, proposed, in January 1721–2, to collect accounts of all the ancient coins relative to Great Britain, Holmes undertook to describe the Saxon coins in the possession of Councillor Hill; but the project was ultimately abandoned.

Holmes's curious collection of books, prints, and coins was sold by auction in 1749. His portrait was engraved by G. Vertue for the Society of Antiquaries, from a painting by R. van Bleeck. 

HOLMES, JAMES (1777–1860), painter, born in 1777, was first apprenticed to an engraver. He made some progress in engraving, and in 1800 engraved in stipple a portrait of Thomas Clio Rickman after Hazlitt. On the termination of his apprenticeship he gave up engraving and turned his attention to water-colour painting. In 1813 he became a member of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, and sent two pictures, ‘Hot Porridge’ and ‘The Married Man,’ to their exhibition. He continued to contribute small-subject pictures and an occasional portrait to that exhibition until 1820. In 1819 he exhibited two miniatures at the Royal Academy, and about the same time was led to try painting in oils. In 1822 he ceased to be a member of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, and actively assisted to establish the Society of British Artists, who held their first exhibition in Suffolk Street in 1824. Holmes became a member in 1829, and a constant exhibitor, chiefly in miniatures, up to 1850, when he resigned his membership. He devoted himself latterly to miniature-painting, and had many distinguished sitters. He painted some miniature portraits of Lord Byron, two of which were engraved. Holmes's paintings were esteemed for careful finish and good colour. His genial character and musical talents gained him the personal friendship of George IV. Holmes retired to spend his later years in Shropshire, and died on 24 Feb. 1860. Some of his pictures were engraved for publications, such as ‘The Amulet,’ ‘The Literary Souvenir,’ &c. 

HOLMES, JOHN (fl. 1602), composer, and organist first at Winchester Cathedral and afterwards at Salisbury Cathedral (1602–1610), was the master of Adrian Batten [q. v.]