Edward Holme (17 February 1770 – 28 November 1847) was an English
physician and supporter of learned societies.
Life
The son of Thomas Holme, farmer and mercer, he was born at
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...
in
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
. After attending
Sedbergh School, he spent two years at the
Manchester Academy, and then studied at the
University of Göttingen and
University of Edinburgh. He graduated
MD at the
University of Leyden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
in December 1793.
Early in 1794 Holme began practice in
Manchester, and was shortly afterwards elected one of the physicians to the infirmary there. He joined the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and was one of its Vice-Presidents from 1797 to 1844, when he succeeded
John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into colour blindness, which he had. Colour b ...
as President. He was one of the founders of the
Portico Library, and its President for twenty-eight years. He was also a founder and first President of both the Manchester Natural History Society and the
Chetham Society (from 1843).
He was the first president of the medical section of the
British Association at its inaugural meeting at York (1831), and presided over the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association in 1836. He became a Fellow of the
Linnean Society in 1799. He was for many years, particularly after the death of
John Ferriar, a leader in the medical profession in Manchester, and in the local literary and scientific societies.
Holme died unmarried, on 28 November 1847, at
Manchester, leaving property worth over £50,000. Most of it he bequeathed, together with his library, to the medical department of
University College, London.
Works
Holme's Leyden dissertation ''De Structura et Usu Vasorum Absorbentium'' ran to 61 pages. Of fourteen essays contributed to the Literary and Philosophical Society, he only published a short ''Note on a Roman inscription found at Manchester'' (''Manchester Memoirs'', vol. v.). Another essay, ''On the History of Sculpture to the Time of Phidias'', was printed after his death.
Notes
;Attribution
External links
Chetham Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holme, Edward
1770 births
1847 deaths
18th-century English medical doctors
19th-century English medical doctors
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
Chetham Society