Edmond Gore Alexander Holmes (17 July 1850 – 14 October 1936) was an educationalist, writer and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Biography

Holmes was born in

Moycashel Moycashel (), previously the barony of Rossaughe, and before that, Delamares country, is a barony in south County Westmeath, in the Republic of Ireland. It was formed by 1542.

, County Westmeath, Ireland. His father was Robert Holmes and his mother was Jane Henn (1824-1905). His ''The Creed of the Buddha'' (1908) is well known; he also wrote a

pantheist Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has e ...

text ''All is One: A Plea for a Higher Pantheism''. In 1901 he was a school inspector. Katherine Bathurst who had a troubled career was transferred from Wales to work under his supervision. Disputes between them includes expenses, timetables and Bathurst's objections to Holmes amending her reports. The Oxford Education Committee complained about her and she was given six months probation in February 1904 and in the following month female inspectors were moved to a new organisation as proposed by Robert Morant. Bathurst was sent to Manchester. Holmes rose to become chief inspector for elementary schools in 1905. He resigned in 1911, over a confidential memorandum criticising school inspectors who had formerly been elementary school teachers. This angered the teachers' union and it led to the downfall of Robert Morant the permanent secretary to the Board of Education when it became public. Holmes subsequent writings on education are taken as an early statement of "progressive" and "child-centred" positions, and are still cited. Later works come close to

theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

. For example, even a 1914 book review of his ''In Defence of What Might Be'' describes it as "pregnant with possibilities for the untrammeled soul of the growing child. A draft of fresh air into static pedagogy." Words from his ''The Triumph of Love'' were set to music by the composer

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the ...

, a friend.

Personal life

Holmes married Florence Mary Syme (d. 1927) in 1880 and they had three children, two daughters and a son. Daughter

Verena Holmes Verena Winifred Holmes (23 June 1889 – 20 February 1964) was an English mechanical engineer and multi-field inventor, the first woman member elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924) and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers ...

went on to become a leading early woman engineer and only son Maurice Gerald Holmes(1885–1964) became a British civil servant.

Publications

*''Poems (1876)'' *''Poems (1879)'' *''A Confession of Faith. By an Unorthodox Believer'' (1895) *''The Silence of Love'' (1901) *''Walt Whitman's Poetry: A Study & A Selection'' (1902) *''The Triumph of Love'' (1903) *''The Creed of Christ'' (1905) *''The Creed of the Buddha'' (1908) *''What Is and What Might Be'' (1911) *''The Creed of My Heart'' (1912) *''In Defence of What Might Be'' (1914) *''Sonnets to the Universe'' (1918) *''Sonnets and Poems'' *''Experience of Reality. A Study of Mysticism'' (1928) *''Philosophy Without Metaphysics'' (1930) *''The Headquarters of Reality. A Challenge to Western Thought'' (1933).

References

Bibliography

*''Edmond Holmes and the Tragedy of Education'' (1998) Chris Shute. *Gordon, P. (1983). "The writings of Edmond Holmes: a reassessment and bibliography." History of Education 12(1): 15–24. *Gordon, P. (1978). "The Holmes-Morant Circular of 1911: A Note." Journal of Educational Administration and History X(1): 36–40.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Edmond Gore Alexander 1850 births 1936 deaths Irish educational theorists Irish poets Pantheists Writers from County Westmeath