Edward Morell Holmes FLS (29 January 1843 – 10 September 1930) was a British botanist, curator and lecturer in

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

. Most of the specimens he collected are

marine algae Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine current power * Marine debris * Marine energy * Marine habitats * M ...

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, or

bryophyte Bryophytes () are a group of embryophyte, land plants (embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic Division (taxonomy), division referred to as Bryophyta ''Sensu#Common qualifiers, sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular pla ...

Early life and education

Holmes was educated at the Grammar School in

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Lincoln, east of Nottingham and north-east of Peterborough. The town had a population of 45,339 at ...

and the Grammar School in

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...

. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to Mr. S. S. Hayward, a pharmacist in

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is a historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted t ...

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

. He studied pharmacy at the Pharmaceutical Society's school in Bloomsbury Square, walking from Chelsea to attend morning lectures. He passed the Minor examination to qualify as a Chemist and Druggist. He then worked for Mr T.Vicary in Plymouth, and while there collected a herbarium of British plants which won the Society's bronze medal in 1863. He passed the Society's Major examination to qualify as a Pharmaceutical Chemist in May 1864.

Career

Holmes worked in London in 1863 and 1864, first as assistant successively to Alsop & Quiller, Sloane Square, and then Mr. G. Tarde, Lamb's Conduit Street. He then returned to Plymouth, and, after a short time with his earlier employer Mr. Vicary, he started his own business at 2 Arundel Crescent. After six years, he sold the business and came to work for Wright, Seller & Layman in London, as head of their perfumery department. However, after three months he left to become Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society's Museum in November 1872. He remained in the post for 50 years until his retirement in 1922, after which he was styled emeritus curator until his death in 1930. He systematised the museum and compiled a catalogue of it which was published in 1878, and later compiled a catalogue of the Hanbury Herbarium. From 1873 to 1876 he was a lecturer on botany at

Westminster Hospital Medical School The Westminster Hospital Medical School was one of the constituent medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine. It was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon – although students had been taken on at Wes ...

. From 1887 to 1890 he was a lecturer on materia medica at the Pharmaceutical Society. He published more than 300 articles on drugs and medicinal plants. Holmes edited and distributed two exsiccatae, one under the title ''Algae Britannicae rariores exsiccatae, curante E. M. Holmes'' (1883-1910).Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2024 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany.

Honours

He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society. He was awarded the Fluckiger Medal in 1897 and the Pharmaceutical Society's Hanbury Gold Medal in 1915, both in recognition of his contribution to the field. He was President of the British Pharmaceutical Conference in 1900.

Personal life

In 1882 he married Catherine "Kate" Appleford (b. 1842), who also collected British plants. In 1921 an automobile hit him, necessitating the amputation of part of one leg. In 1935 she donated his papers to the

Wellcome Library The Wellcome Library is a free library and Museum based in central London. It was developed from the collection formed by Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1936), whose personal wealth allowed him to create one of the most ambitious collections of the ...

. There were no children from the marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Edward Morell 1843 births 1930 deaths 19th-century British botanists 20th-century British botanists Botanists with author abbreviations British phycologists English curators Fellows of the Linnean Society of London