:
Thomas Holloway (22 September 180026 December 1883) was an English patent medicine vendor and philanthropist.
Early life
Holloway was born in
Devonport,
Plymouth,
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. Devo ...
, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary Holloway (née Chellew), who at the time of their son's birth had a bakery business. They later moved to
Penzance,
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 ...
, where they ran The Turk's Head Inn. In the late 1820s, Holloway went to live in
Roubaix
Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...
, France, for a few years. He returned to England in 1831 and worked in London as a secretary and interpreter for a firm of importers and exporters. In 1836, he set himself up as a foreign and commercial agent in London.
Success in business
Holloway had business connections with an Italian, Felix Albinolo, who manufactured and sold a general purpose ointment. This gave Holloway the idea to set up a similar business himself in 1837. He began by using his mother's pots and pans to manufacture his ointment in the family kitchen. Seeing the potential in patent medicines, Holloway soon added pills to his range of products. Holloway's business was extremely successful. A key factor in his enormous success in business was advertising, in which Holloway had great faith. Holloway's first newspaper announcements appeared in 1837, and by 1842 his yearly expenses for publicity had reached over £5,000 (
GBP
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
). By the time of his death, he was spending over £50,000 a year on advertising his products. The sales of his products made Holloway a multi-millionaire, and one of the richest men in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
at the time. Holloway's products were said to be able to cure a whole host of ailments, though scientific evaluation of them after his death showed that few of them contained any ingredients which would be considered to be of significant medicinal value.
Holloway's medicine business slowly declined and was bought by rival
Beecham's Pills
__NOTOC__
Beecham's Pills were a laxative first marketed about 1842 in Wigan, Lancashire. They were invented by Thomas Beecham (1820–1907), grandfather of the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham (1879–1961).
Commercial history
The pills themselves ...
in 1930.
Philanthropy
Holloway is remembered for the two large institutions which he built in England:
Holloway Sanatorium in
Virginia Water
Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its n ...
, Surrey, and
Royal Holloway College
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...
, a college of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in
Englefield Green
Englefield Green is a large village in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London.
The village grew from a hamlet in the 19th century, when much of Egham ( ...
, Surrey. Both were designed by the architect
William Henry Crossland
William Henry Crossland (Yorkshire, 1835 – London, 14 November 1908), known professionally as W.H. Crossland, was a 19th-century English architect and a pupil of George Gilbert Scott. His architectural works included the design of three building ...
, and were inspired by the
Cloth Hall
A cloth hall or linen hall (german: Gewandhaus; pl, Sukiennice; french: Halle aux draps; nl, Lakenhal) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from medieval times into the 18 ...
in
Ypres
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality c ...
, Belgium, and the
Château de Chambord
The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...
in the
Loire Valley, France. They were founded by Holloway as "Gifts to the nation".
Holloway claimed that it was his wife,
Jane Holloway, who inspired him to found the college, which was a women-only college and did not accept male undergraduates until 1965, although postgraduates were accepted in 1945.
[Bingham, Caroline (1987). The history of the Royal Holloway College 1886–1986. London: Constable. .] Holloway also paid over £80,000 to acquire 77
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
paintings which he donated to the college at the time of its founding. Most of these pieces of art still belong to the college, and remain on display today in the college's Picture Gallery. Three of the paintings, by Turner, Constable and Gainsborough were sold in the 1990s.
Tittenhurst Park
Holloway had become extremely wealthy by the late 1860s and bought a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
House at
Sunninghill, near
Ascot, Berkshire called
Tittenhurst Park
Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of musi ...
. Holloway lived there with his wife, Jane. Her sister, Sarah Anne Driver, also lived there with her husband George Martin, as did Holloway's sister Matilda, an invalid who died soon after.
Jane died in 1875, aged 61; Holloway died there on 26 December 1883, aged 83.
A century later, from 1969 to 1971, the building became the home of
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
with his then new wife
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
, having been married on 20 March 1969 in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
.
Another member of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
,
Ringo Starr, lived there after Lennon until the late-1980s. In 1988, the property was sold to Sheikh
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ( ar, زَايِد بِن سُلْطَان آل نَهْيَان, Zāyed bin Sulṭān Āl Nahyān; 6 May 1918 – 2 November 2004) was an Emirati politician, statesman, and philanthropist who served as ...
, President of the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
and ruler of
Abu Dhabi. Since then major renovation of the manor has been carried out, and the interior no longer resembles the house lived in by Lennon and Starr.
Death
![Thomas Holloway grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Thomas_Holloway_grave.jpg)
A philanthropic and somewhat eccentric donor (he had an unconcealed prejudice against doctors, lawyers and
parson
A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term ...
s),
Holloway died of
congestion of the
lungs at Sunninghill in 1883,
eighteen months before the opening of the Holloway Sanatorium. He is buried with his wife Jane in a family grave at Sunninghill churchyard.
A display about his life was unveiled at the church in October 2014 by Royal Holloway's Principal, Professor
Paul Layzell
Paul John Layzell, (born 23 July 1957) is a British academic, academic administrator, and software engineer. Since August 2010, he has served as Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Unive ...
.
Bibliography
*Harrison-Barbet, Anthony. ''Thomas Holloway: Victorian Philanthropist''.
References
*Anderson, Stuart, ''From pills to philanthropy: the Thomas Holloway story'', Pharmaceutical Historian. 35(2):32-6, 2005 Jun.
External links
History of Royal Holloway and Bedford New CollegeAustralian Postal History and Thomas Holloway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holloway, Thomas
English philanthropists
Patent medicine businesspeople
People associated with Royal Holloway, University of London
People from Devonport, Plymouth
People from Sunninghill
1800 births
1883 deaths
19th-century British philanthropists