Sir Thomas Henry Holland (22 November 1868 – 15 May 1947) was a British geologist who worked in India with the Geological Survey of India, serving as its director from 1903 to 1910. He later worked as an educational administrator at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

Early life

Thomas Holland was born on 22 November 1868 in Helston, Cornwall, to John Holland and Grace Treloar Roberts who later emigrated to Canada to live in a farm in Springfield, Manitoba. In 1884, Thomas won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Science, graduating with a first class degree in Geology. The dean at the Royal College of Science, Thomas Henry Huxley, made a great impression on Holland. He stayed on as an assistant to Professor John Wesley Judd and was awarded a Berkeley Fellowship at Owens College, Manchester, in 1889.

Career

In 1890, Holland was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India and curator of the Geological Museum and Laboratory. In 1903, he was appointed Director of the Geological Survey of India and in 1904 he was elected to be a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Holland produced the first scientific description of what he named as charnockite from Job Charnock's tombstone located in St John's Church compound in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

which had been brought from somewhere in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

. Holland continued work on the gneisses of southern India that had earlier been classified by William King and Robert Bruce Foote. Holland reclassified the hypersthene granites as acidic (the charnockites, with the type being from St Thomas Mount), the intermediate, basic, and ultrabasic. In 1908, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) for his services to the Geological Survey of India. He returned to Britain in 1910, and in 1912 he was appointed to the Royal Commission on Fuel and Engines. He was president of the British Association in 1928–1929. Under the editorship of Holland a four volume " Provincial Geographies of India" series was published between 1913 and 1923 from the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. Holland was rector of

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

from 1922 to 1929 and principal of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

from 1929 to 1944. The Albert Medal of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

for 1939 was awarded to Sir Thomas H. Holland, "for his services to the mineral industries". He was also a member of the

Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (commonly known as The Poly) is an educational, cultural and scientific Charitable organization#United Kingdom, charity, as well as a local arts and cinema venue, based in Falmouth, Cornwall, England, Unite ...

. From 1929 until 1940 he was principal of

. In 1930 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Sir James Alfred Ewing, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, Ralph Allan Sampson and James Hartley Ashworth. He served as the society's vice-president from 1932 to 1935. He served as president of the Geographical Association in 1937–1938. He won the society's Bruce Preller Prize for 1941.

Death

Holland died unexpectedly at his home in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

on 15 May 1947..

Family

He married twice: firstly in 1896 to Frances Maud Chapman (d.1942); secondly in 1946, aged 78, to Helen Ethleen Verrall.

References

External links

AIM25: Royal Society: Holland, Thomas Henry (1868–1947)
AIM25 {{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Thomas Henry 1868 births 1947 deaths People from Helston Alumni of Imperial College London Geologists from Cornwall British curators Principals of the University of Edinburgh Rectors of Imperial College London Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Presidents of The Asiatic Society Presidents of the British Science Association Geologists from British India 20th-century British geologists British people in colonial India Presidents of the Geological Society of London