T. Rice Holmes

Thomas Rice Edward Holmes, FBA (24 May 1855 – 4 August 1933), who usually published his works under the names T. Rice Holmes or T.R.E. Holmes, was a scholar best known for his extensive and "fundamental"[1] work on Julius Caesar and his Gallic War commentaries.

Holmes was born at Moycashel (today Castletown-Geoghegan), Ireland. He was the fifth son of Robert Holmes, a landed proprietor and a descendant of John Arbuthnot, a friend of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.

Holmes was educated at Merchant Taylors' School[2] and Christ Church, Oxford. He was assistant master at Lincoln Grammar School (1878–80), Blackheath Proprietary School (1880–85), and St. Paul's School (beginning in 1886). In 1888, he married Isabel Isaacs, the daughter of Lionel Isaacs of Mandeville, Jamaica. They lived at 11 Douro Place, Kensington.

In addition to his books, Holmes published a number of articles in the English Historical Review, Classical Quarterly, and other journals. He died at age 78 in Roehampton, London.

Books

Articles

Holmes wrote several articles, and Bill Thayer has documented "a flurry of argument and counter-argument" among Holmes and other scholars on the identity of the Portus Itius named by Caesar.[5] These appear at LacusCurtius in hypertext editions:

  • F.J. Haverfield, review of Holmes' Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (1899) and Camille Jullian's Vercingétorix (1901), English Historical Review 18 (1903) 332–336.[1]
  • T. Rice Holmes, "Last Words on Portus Itius," Classical Review 23 (May 1909) 77–81.[2]
  • H. Stuart Jones takes Holmes to task while reviewing Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar in English Historical Review 24 (1909) 115–116 and 604 [3]
  • T. Rice Holmes, "An Explanation," Classical Review 26 (March 1912) 70.[4]
  • F.J. Haverfield, "Portius Itius," Classical Review 27 (December 1913) 258–260.[5]
  • T. Rice Holmes, "F.H. on Portius Itius," Classical Review 28 (March 1914) 45–47.[6]
  • F.J. Haverfield, "Portus Itius," Classical Review 28 (May 1914) 82–84.[7]
  • T. Rice Holmes, "Portus Itius," Classical Review 28 (September 1914) 193–196.[8]
  • E.E. Genner, "Portus Itius," Classical Review 32 (May 1918) 70.[9]

Holmes' "The Battle-field of Old Pharsalus," Classical Quarterly 2 (1908) 271–292 is also republished at LacusCurtius.[10]

Biographical sources

  • Nature 132 (2 September 1933) 342, obituary (partial text)
  • Who's Who 1900 (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1900), vol. 52, p. 532 online.

Notes

  1. ^ Balsdon J.P.V.D. (1957). "The Veracity of Caesar". Greece & Rome. 4: 28. doi:10.1017/s0017383500015667. S2CID 161212559.
  2. ^ Charles John Robinson (1883). A register of the scholars admitted into Merchant Taylor's School, from A.D. 1562 to 1874. Printed and published for the editor by Farncombe. p. 364.
  3. ^ Owen, S. J. (July 1886). "Review: A History of the Indian Mutiny by T.R.E. Holmes". The English Historical Review. I: 599–600. doi:10.1093/ehr/i.iii.599.
  4. ^ "Review of Four Famous Soldiers by T. R. E. Holmes". The English Historical Review. 4: 807–808. 1889.
  5. ^ Bill Thayer, notes to the entry "Portus Itius" in the 1911 Britannica at LacusCurtius.