Harvey Buchanan Holl (28 September 1820 – 11 September 1886,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

) was a British medical doctor, surgeon, geologist, paleontologist, lichenologist, and bryologist.

Biography

His father was William Holl, Esq., who edited ''The Analyst'' (

Simpkin & Marshall Simpkin & Marshall was a British bookseller, book wholesaler and book publisher. The firm was founded in 1819 and traded until the 1940s. For many decades the firm was Britain's largest book wholesalerChester W, Topp, ''Victorian Yellowbacks & Pap ...

, 1834–1840), a monthly journal of literature and natural history, with a focus on England's midland counties. Harvey Buchanan Holl's brother was William Haworth Holl (1824–1908), who was appointed in 1884 a circuit judge. After education at the

King's School, Worcester The King's School, Worcester is an English independent day school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex ma ...

, Harvey Buchanan Holl, when he was about seventeen years old, entered the Medical College in Birmingham. He soon became acquainted with Sir

Henry de la Beche Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS (10 February 179613 April 1855) was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the f ...

, who invited him as a companion to geologise in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. This expedition, which extended over about six months, led Holl to abandon his medical studies. Henry de la Beche recommended Holl to

Henry Darwin Rogers Henry Darwin Rogers FRS FRSE LLD (1 August 1808 – 26 May 1866) was an American geologist. His book, ''The Geology of Pennsylvania: A Government Survey'' (1858), was regarded as one of the most important publications on American geology issu ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. As an assistant to Rogers, Holl participated in the 2nd

Pennsylvania Geological Survey The Pennsylvania Geological Survey or Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey (BTGS), is a geological survey enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly "to serve the citizens of Pennsylvania by collecting, preserving, and disseminating impartial ...

, working on the geological survey for about three years. For an additional year in the United States, he used his own financial resources to geologise. Upon returning to England, Holl became a medical student at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

and successfully qualified on 3 December 1849 as a Member of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. The ...

. Upon the start in October 1853 of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, he was appointed as one of the senior civil surgeons to aid the British Army's medical staff. He served partly in Crimea but mostly in Turkey at the Scutari Hospital (made famous by

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

). Holl remained abroad until the conclusion of the Crimean War in 1856. Upon his return to England, he practised medicine for some years at

St George's Square St George's Square is a prestigious and very long garden square in affluent Pimlico, Central London. It benefits from gardens and a church in its central area. Near the northern acute angle, the square is intersected by Lupus Street. Pimlic ...

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. In 1859 he graduated with the research degree M.D. from

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Universi ...

. His two most important papers might be ''On the Geological Structure of the Malvern Hills and adjacent Districts'' (1865) and ''On the Older Rocks of South Devon and East Cornwall'' (1868). He was elected a Fellow of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1862, at approximately the time that he gave up his medical practice and moved to Tower Lodge, The Link, Malvern, where he devoted himself to geological studies. Holl donated 295 lichen specimens in 1868 and bequeathed his herbarium of lichens and mosses to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Selected publications

* * (abstract for 1865 paper) * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holl, Harvey Buchanan 1820 births 1886 deaths 19th-century British geologists English palaeontologists British surgeons British lichenologists Bryologists Fellows of the Geological Society of London People educated at King's School, Worcester Alumni of the University of Aberdeen