John Holmes (1703 – 22 December 1760 in

Holt, Norfolk Holt is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to ...

) was an 18th-century

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled after B ...

and writer on education, Master of

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Life

Holmes is described in a broadsheet of his Latin verses dating from 1729 as ''ex schola Holtensis''. In 1729, the

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precede ...

, governors of

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, appointed Holmes Master (''viz.'', headmaster) of the school with effect from 1730. This was an unusual appointment, as Holmes was not a

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. Holmes was a successful schoolmaster, teaching classical and modern languages, oratory, and

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

, and he reversed the school's decline under his predecessors. He soon found he needed to improve on the teaching materials he had inherited and decided to expand his career by writing and publishing school textbooks. At Gresham's he pioneered the teaching of

modern languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such a ...

, especially

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, as well as

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

, and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. According to an advertisement in Holmes's Latin Grammar of 1732, Gresham's School under him taught

Arithmetic in all its parts, Bookkeeping by Double Entry... the Use of Globes and writing in all the hands used in Great Britain.

Holmes's headship was applauded by the Fishmongers' Company. Critical pamphlets were aimed at his Greek Grammar, to which Holmes replied in letters to the press, using the pen-name ''Patroclus''. The mathematician

Thomas Simpson Thomas Simpson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the :wikt:eponym, eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathe ...

came out in his support. The attacks came from

Robert Heath Sir Robert Heath (20 May 1575 – 30 August 1649) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625. Early life Heath was the son of Robert Heath, attorney, and Anne Posyer. He was educated at Tunbridge ...

and Robert Hankinson, in a controversy from the period 1738–40. He died at the age of fifty-seven and was buried at Holt.

Books published

Holmes's works include: *''A New Grammar of the Latin Tongue... freed from the many obscurities, defects, superfluities, and errors, which render the common grammar an insufferable impediment to the progress of education'' (1732, thirteenth edition 1788) *''A Greek Grammar'' (1735, seventh edition by 1771) *''History of England, Performed by the Gentlemen of the Grammar School... at their Christmas breaking up'' (drama, published in Latin and English, 1737) * (1738) *''Rhetorick Epitomiz'd, whereby the principles of the whole art may be learned in an hour'' (1738) *''Clavis grammaticalis... or, Examination of the Latin and Greek Grammars'' (1739) *''The Constellations Reformed'' (drama, 1741) * (1741) *''The Grammarian's Geography and Astronomy, Ancient and Modern; Exemplified in the Use of the Globes Terraqueous and Celestial'' (1751) *''Astronomy Ancient and Modern'' (1751) *''The Grammarian's Arithmetic: a Compendious Treatise of the Art of Ciphering'' (1755, advertised but apparently not published)

Family

Holmes's family background is unknown. His wife was called Jane Holmes and died in 1767. Their daughter Jane married John Burrell, Rector of Letheringsett and became the mother of John Burrell, a lepidopterist.

References

*''The Grammarians' Battleground: controversies surrounding the publication of John Holmes' Greek grammar'' by D. Stoker in ''Paradigm: the Journal of the Textbook Colloquium'', volume 17 (1995), pages 1–14 *Michael, Ian, ''The Teaching of English From the Sixteenth Century to 1870'' (Cambridge University Press, 1987
p. 480
at books.google.com

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, John 1703 births 1760 deaths People educated at Gresham's School English educational theorists Headmasters of Gresham's School People from Holt, Norfolk