Sir Henry Holland

Bt FRS
Born27 October 1788
Died27 October 1873 (aged 85)
Occupationphysician and travel writer
NationalityEnglish
Genretravel writing

Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet, FRS (27 October 1788 – 27 October 1873) was an English physician and travel writer. [1]

Early life

Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Holland was the son of the physician Peter Holland (1766–1853) and his wife Mary Willets. Peter's sister Elizabeth was the mother of the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, and Mary was the niece of the potter Josiah Wedgwood. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University (MA, 1811).

Career

He had an extensive practice and was Domestic Physician to Caroline, Princess of Wales (briefly in 1814) and Physician Extraordinary to William IV and to Queen Victoria. He was also Physician in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in 1852. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in January, 1815 and served on the council three times.[2] He was created a Baronet in 1853.

Scientifically, Holland made an early contribution to the Germ theory of disease in his essay "On the hypothesis of insect life as a cause of disease?" in "Medical Notes and Reflections", 1839.

Travel

Holland gained fame through his travel writings, having travelled to Iceland and through the Balkans and the Iberian peninsula, while the British were at war with France. He was also a talented society physician, and between his good looks, his charm, and his experiences and conversation, he was much in demand.

On 4 December 1836 Holland attended a party hosted by Fanny and Hensleigh Wedgwood for their relatives, shortly after Charles Darwin returned from the Beagle voyage. Darwin had sent home packets of his "journal", and he asked his relatives about captain FitzRoy's intent of incorporating it into the published Narrative. Holland "looked over a few pages, and evidently thought that it would not be worth while to publish it alone, as it would be partly going over the same ground with the Captain." Darwin thought the "little Dr talked much good sense",[3] but Emma Wedgwood did not think Holland "any judge as to what is amusing or interesting",[4] and Hensleigh felt if Holland "thought it would not do for publication it only affects my opinion of his taste & not the least in the world the merits of the thing itself".[5] Darwin's Journal and Remarks became well known as The Voyage of the Beagle.

Holland died on his 85th birthday, 27 October 1873, at his house in Brook Street, London.

Family

In 1822 he married, Margaret Emma Caldwell (1795–1830, known as Emma), with whom he had two sons and two daughters:

Emma died on 2 February 1830. He later became son-in-law to the wit Sydney Smith whose daughter, Saba, he married as his second wife, with whom he had two daughters:

  • Caroline Holland (1834–1909), author of Notebooks of a Spinster Lady, publ. posth. 1919
  • Gertrude Holland (1840–1898)

Arms

Coat of arms of Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet
Crest
Out of a crown vallary Or a demi-lion guardant per bend Argent and Azure charged with a bendlet engrailed counterchanged holding in the dexter paw a fleur-de-lis Argent.
Escutcheon
Per pale Argent and Azure semée-de-lis a lion rampant guardant counterchanged over all a bendlet engrailed Gules.
Motto
Respice Aspice Prospice[6]

References

  1. ↑ "SIR HENRY HOLLAND (Obituary Notice, Friday, October 31, 1873)". Eminent Persons: Biographies reprinted from The Times. Vol. I (1870-1875). London: Macmillan and Co. 1892. pp. 186–194. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6n011x45. Retrieved 26 February 2019 – via HathiTrust Digital Library.
  2. ↑ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
  3. ↑ "Letter 325 — Charles Darwin to Caroline Darwin – 27 [December 1836]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Keynes, Richard (2001), Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary, Cambridge University Press, pp. xviii–xix, retrieved 23 December 2021
  5. ↑ "Letter no. 332 – Hensleigh Wedgwood to Charles Darwin – [20 December 1836]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Burke's Peerage. 1915.
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