Geoffrey Shorter Holmes, (17 July 1928 – 25 November 1993) was an English historian of early eighteenth century English politics.

Academic career

Holmes was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England and educated at Woodhouse Grammar School and

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named aft ...

, graduating with a BA in 1948. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

before returning to Oxford in 1950 as a research assistant to David Ogg. In 1952 he graduated with a B.Litt. J. V. Beckett, �
Obituary: Professor Geoffrey Holmes
��, ''The Independent'' (27 November 1993), retrieved 13 January 2020. From 1952 until 1969 he was successively assistant lecturer, lecturer and senior lecturer at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

's history department. From 1969 until his retirement in 1985 he taught history at Lancaster University, first as reader (1969–72) and then as professor (1973–83). During 1977-1978 he was a visiting fellow at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

and was awarded the degree of

D.Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

by the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in 1978. He was elected to a Fellowship of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in 1983 and was a vice-president of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

(1985–1989).

''British Politics in the Age of Anne''

Holmes's book on British politics during the reign of Queen Anne (1702–1714) transformed historians' understanding of the period. Whereas

G. M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...

and Sir Keith Feiling had described the politics of Anne's reign as dominated by two parties ( Whigs and

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

Robert Walcott Robert Walcott (24 January 1910 – 23 August 1988) was an American historian specializing in early 18th-century English politics. Augustan politics Walcott subjected early 18th-century English politics to a Namierite analysis, arguing that i ...

subjected the period to a Namierite analysis and concluded that the period was dominated by various factions based on sectional interests.

G. V. Bennett Gareth Vaughan Bennett, also known as Garry Bennett (8 November 1929 – 7 December 1987), was a British Anglican priest and academic who committed suicide in the wake of media reactions to an anonymous preface he wrote for '' Crockford's Cleri ...

, ‘Review: British Politics in the Age of Anne’, ''The English Historical Review'' Vol. 84, No. 331 (Apr., 1969), pp. 358-362. Walcott's thesis was much criticised and Holmes's book provided a new, more convincing interpretation. Holmes used more than fifty manuscript sources that had been unavailable before 1945. Holmes argued that the Whig/Tory division that was present during William III's reign crystallised into a more rigid two-party polarisation after 1702. His analysis of the surviving division-lists for the House of Commons refuted Walcott's assertion that MPs were loosely attached to party: of 1,064 MPs all except 130 voted on consistent, partisan Whig/Tory lines. MPs struggled over political principles as well as for places, with the Queen's desire for coalition government largely frustrated except when the strength of the two parties was evenly balanced. Only then could the Court function as a third force. The end of her reign witnessed the grudging acceptance of a two-party system.Henry Horwitz, ‘Review: British Politics in the Age of Anne’, ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 41, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 92–3.

Henry Horwitz Henry Horwitz (1938 – 2019) was an American historian specialising in late seventeenth century English politics. Academic career Horwitz was awarded a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1963 and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College ...

claimed that Holmes replaced Walcott's work with "a bold yet subtle analysis that puts Augustan politics in truer perspective than ever before".

J. P. Kenyon John Philipps Kenyon, FBA (18 June 1927 – 6 January 1996) was an English historian and Fellow of the British Academy. His area of expertise was 17th-century England. Life Kenyon was born in Sheffield where he attended King Edward VII School, ...

said the book was the "crowning achievement of this new school

f late 17th- and early 18th-century historians F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

and the only work of political history of this century which can stand alongside Namier's ''Structure of Politics''".

Austin Woolrych Austin Herbert Woolrych (18 May 191814 September 2004) was an English historian, a specialist in the period of the English Civil War. Early life and education Austin Woolrych was born in Marylebone, London, the son of Stanley Herbert Cunliffe ...

said of ''British Politics in the Age of Anne'':

No work of history in our time has won its author a more instant reputation, or more decisively influenced the interpretation of the subject it treats. ... fairly earned its acclamation as a work of art. ... is alive with deft character-sketches, sharp detail and apt quotations. Even if it had not effected a major historical revision, as it did, it would deserve to be read as literature. ... It has stood the test of time well.Austin Woolrych, 'Geoffrey Shorter Holmes', ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', Volume 87 (1995), pp. 329–30.

Works

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JSTOR
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JSTOR
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JSTOR
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online
* (a collection of his major essays) * (a previously unpublished lecture)

Academic career

''British Politics in the Age of Anne''

Works

References

Further reading