HOLMES, George Frederick, 1820-1897
Professor of History and General Literature, 1857-1897.
George Frederick Holmes was born in Demarara, British Guiana, in August, 1820, and received his early education at Durham University, in England. At the age of eighteen he came to the United States, and, while teaching school in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina, prepared himself for the practice of law. He was admitted to the bar in South Carolina in 1842, but after a short practice abandoned the profession to return to the work of teaching. After two years in a professional position at Richmond College, and one year as Professor of History, Political Economy, and International Law, at the College of William and Mary, he was offered and accepted the Presidency of the University of Mississippi, in 1848. In that position he remained but a short time, teaching History, Political Economy, and the Evidences of Christianity, and then returned to Virginia and engaged in literary work, producing a large amount of writing fur encyclopedias, reviews, and magazines.
The School of History and General Literature at the University of Virginia was established in 1831, the first result of an Act of the Legislature of that year authorizing the Board of Visitors to appoint as many and such Professors as they might find advisable for the best interests of the institution. Professor Holmes was called to his new chair in 1857, and until his death, November 4, 1897, he continued to serve the University with unvarying efficiency. His work was reduced in 1882 to the subject of Historical Science, including Political Economy, the creation of the School of English Language and Literature relieving him of the Literature courses ; and, upon the appointment of an Adjunct Professor of History, in 1889, Professor Holmes taught classes only in Political Economy and the Science of Society. In addition to the literary work already mentioned, he was the author of a series of text-books especially designed for the use of Southern schools : Readers, an English Grammar, and a History of the United States. He also printed privately lectures on the Science of Society.
