George Bax Holmes (3 May 1803 – 31 March 1887) was an English fossil collector. Born into a wealthy

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family in

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, Sussex, he was the discoverer of the 'Great Horsham Iguanodon'. Having started life pursuing a medical career he was able to devote more time to his fossil hunting from 1834. It was in that year that his father died and left him considerable property interests. As early as 1836 he contributed to Howard Dudley's history of Horsham with a paragraph on his work.

Religion

Bax Holmes was born in

on 3 May 1803, the first son of Joseph Holmes, an active Quaker. He was married on 19 October 1826 to his third cousin Mary Burns of

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

at which time his occupation was recorded as "chemist and druggist" of Horsham. As a Quaker in these times Bax Holmes was still regarded as a

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...

from the mainstream

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, even though the religious Act of Toleration had been passed in 1689. In 1834, for refusing to pay the church rates of 4s 10½d (2007: £19) he had two arm chairs valued at £3 9s 0d (2007: £276) removed.

Fossil collecting

Bax Holmes is perhaps best known for his discovery of the Great Horsham

Iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning 'iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, Eu ...

, a plant eating

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

, in building works on the future site of the

Royal & Sun Alliance RSA Insurance Group Limited ( trading as RSA, formerly RSA Insurance Group plc and Royal and Sun Alliance) is a British multinational general insurance company headquartered in London, England. RSA has major operations in the United Kingdom, Ir ...

(now RSA) headquarters. In 1840 a stone was uncovered while building the Chapel of Ease, later to become St Marks Church. Bax Holmes identified them as fossilised iguanodon bones, the largest found since the name was coined by

Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was a British obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of ''Iguanodon'' began the scientific study of dinosaurs: in ...

of Lewes some 15 years earlier. The bones were used by

Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an English sculptor and natural history artist renowned for his work on the life-size models of dinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Park in south London. The models, accurately ...

in 1854 when creating the dinosaur models for Sydenham Park. A record of Bax Holmes' work is preserved in the form of 34 letters to fellow fossil expert

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Owe ...

, with whom Bax Holmes was in correspondence throughout his life. These letters are held in the Owen Correspondence collection at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

Legacy

George Bax Holmes died on 31 March 1887 and is buried at the

Friends Meeting House A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

in Worthing Road, Horsham. Today his gravestone is in use as a paving slab and can be seen at the start of the path to the left of the central entrance. His death is noted in the ''Quaker's Annual Monitor'' and the ''Horsham Advertiser'', dated 2 April 1887, published an obituary. After Bax Holmes died his daughter sold his collection of 767 (some say 764) fossils to the Corporation of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

for £55 and they later went on display at the

Booth Museum of Natural History Booth Museum of Natural History is a charitable trust managed, municipally-owned museum of natural history in the city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. Its focus is on Victorian taxidermy, especially of British birds, as well ...

. Until recently they lay in store there until being returned to

Horsham Museum Horsham Museum is a museum at Horsham, West Sussex, in South East England. It was founded in August 1893 by volunteers of the Free Christian (now Unitarian) Church and became part of Horsham District Council in 1974. It is a fully accredited mus ...

for a long term display. It is believed that Bax Holmes lived in the Causeway next door to the current museum and the bones have almost come home.

References

* * Cooper, John A . (1992) ''The Life and Work of George Bax Holmes (1803-1887) of Horsham, Sussex: a Quaker vertebrate fossil collector.'' Archives of Natural History 19 (3), 379-400. *Cooper, John A. (1995) ''George Bax Holmes (1803-1887) and his relationship with Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen. IN Vertebrate Fossils and the Evolution of Scientific Concepts'' Sarjeant, William A.S. (Ed) (10) 181-206 Gordon & Breach ISBN 2-88124-996-5

External links

George Bax Holmes
featured in Hidden Horsham * http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk/shop/dinosaurs {{DEFAULTSORT:Bax Holmes, George English palaeontologists English Quakers People from Horsham 1803 births 1887 deaths