William Holmes (politician)

William "Billy" Holmes (2 April 1779 – 26 January 1851) was an Irish Tory and Conservative politician in the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century. He was an MP for 28 years.

William Holmes, 1834 lithograph
Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Life edit

He was born in County Sligo, the son of Thomas Holmes of Farmhill, a brewer, and his wife Anne Phibbs, daughter of Harlow Phibbs. He matriculated in 1795 at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not take a degree. Then an army officer, he was secretary to Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet with rank of captain in the West Indies, from 1803 to 1807. Retiring from the army in 1807, he married and entered Parliament in 1808, as Member for Grampound.[1]

Holmes served as party manager, and Chief Whip in the House of Commons from about 1818 until his seat (for the rotten borough of Haslemere) was abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832. He had also previously represented several other constituencies. In the dedication to his novel The Member: An Autobiography (1832), the Scottish author John Galt pays sardonic tribute to his skillful dispensation of political patronage.[2] After the Reform Act Holmes was out of the Commons for five years, but returned in 1837 as MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Holmes was also Treasurer of the Ordnance from 1818 to 1831.

His wife was Helen Tew, Dowager Lady Stronge (1769–1852), widow of Sir James Stronge, 1st Baronet of Tynan Abbey, County Armagh, Ireland (1750–1804).

Holmes died in 1851 aged 71 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ Hourican, Bridget. "Holmes, William, Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press". dib.cambridge.org.
  2. ^ Ward, John T., The Member and Parliamentary Reform, in Whatley, Christopher A., John Galt 1779 - 1979, The Ramsey Head Press, Edinburgh, pp. 151 - 153
  3. ^ brompton voyage spectacle shopping ordinateur at brompton.org

Bibliography edit

External links edit

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Grampound
1808–1812
With: Hon. George Cochrane 1808–1812
Hon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone 1812
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tregony
1812–1818
With: Alexander Grant
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Totnes
1818–1820
With: Thomas Courtenay
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle
1820–1830
With: Edward Rogers
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Queenborough
1830
With: Sir Philip Durham
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Haslemere
1830–1832
With: Sir John Beckett
Constituency abolished
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed
1837–1841
With: Richard Hodgson
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Treasurer of the Ordnance
1818–1831
Succeeded by