Matthew Holmes (politician)
{{Short description|New Zealand Legislative Council member}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable
| name = Matthew Holmes
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Matthew Holmes, 1872.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Holmes in 1872
| office7 = Member of the {{nowrap|New Zealand Legislative Council}}
| term_start7 = 19 June 1866
| term_end7 = 27 September 1901
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1817|09|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|09|27|1817|09|15|df=y}}
| death_place = Wellington, New Zealand
| restingplace = Karori Cemetery
| restingplacecoordinates =
| birthname =
| nationality =
| party =
| spouse = {{marriage |Anne McLean|1841|1897|end=d.}}
| relatives = {{ubl|Allan Holmes (son)|Katherine McLean Holmes (daughter)|Annie Julia White (daughter)|George McLean (son-in-law)|Charles White (grandson)|John White (great-grandson)|{{nowrap|Douglas White (great-great-grandson)}}}}
| children = 6
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| profession =
| cabinet =
| committees =
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| religion =
| signature =
}}
Matthew Holmes (15 September 1817 – 27 September 1901) was a New Zealand politician and runholder. He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council for 35 years (1866–1901). Holmes was from Ireland and made his money in Victoria from farming, exporting wool, and supplying the gold fields. The family lived in Scotland for some years but Holmes moved to New Zealand. His family followed him years later and they lived for most of their time in Otago, but retired to Wellington.
Early life
Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland on 15 September 1817,{{cite book |last= Burke |first= Bernard |title= Burke's Colonial Gentry |edition= 2 |orig-year= 1891 |year= 1970 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company |location= Baltimore, Ohio |isbn= 0-8063-0415-4 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera0000burk/page/201 201,202] |url= https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhera0000burk/page/201 }} Holmes received his education in his home town. After school, he was trained in commerce at McFarland's woollen mill in Derry.{{cite book |title=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Otago & Southland Provincial Districts |year=1905 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc04Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d4-d8.html |publisher=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand |author=Cyclopedia Company Limited |access-date= 3 February 2017 |location=Christchurch |chapter=The Hon. Matthew Holmes}}{{cite news| title=Obituary| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19010927.2.62| access-date=3 February 2017| work=The Evening Star| issue=11665| date=27 September 1901| page=8}}
Life in Australia
File:Holmes White & Co, William Street, Melbourne.jpg, Melbourne]]
File:VictorianBuilding0005.jpg.]]
Holmes moved to Australia in 1837 and his first business venture was a stationery shop in Melbourne's Collins Street with William Kerr. The partnership was dissolved at the end of 1841;{{cite news|title=Dissolution of Partnership |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226509927 |access-date=4 February 2017|work=Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser|date=30 December 1841|page=1}} his business partner would later found The Argus.{{cite news |title=The Late Matthew Holmes |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/150294064 |access-date=3 February 2017 |work=Geelong Advertiser |date=10 October 1901 |page=4}} Holmes took over the running of the stationery shop by himself. In 1843, he was declared insolvent by the courts and the stock was auctioned.{{cite news |title=Insolvency Proceedings |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225009981 |access-date=4 February 2017 |work=Port Phillip Gazette |date=8 April 1843 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=In the Estate of Matthew Holmes, Insolvent |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225012653 |access-date=4 February 2017 |work=Port Phillip Gazette |date=19 April 1843 |page=3}} It was not until 1845 that he was discharged.{{cite news |title=Untitled |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226363888 |access-date=4 February 2017|work=The Melbourne Courier|date=15 September 1845|page=4}} For some time, he had a dairy farm called "Glencairn" in the Barrabool Hills outside of Geelong.{{cite book | editor-last = Scholefield | editor-first = Guy | editor-link = Guy Scholefield | title = A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L | volume = I | year = 1940 | publisher = Department of Internal Affairs | location = Wellington | url = https://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/dnzb-1940/scholefield-dnzb-v1.pdf | access-date = 15 January 2017 | pages=406f}}{{cite news|title=To Let on Terms|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/94443689|access-date=4 February 2017|work=Geelong Advertiser and Squatters' Advocate|date=5 December 1846|page=3}}
On 26 May 1841 at Port Phillip, he married Anne McLean, the daughter of Allan McLean of Strathallan near Echuca.{{cite news |title=Married |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226509548| access-date=3 February 2017| work=Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser |date=27 May 1841 |page=2}} After being burned out in the Black Thursday bushfires on 6 February 1851 and their youngest child dying from the effects,{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OAM18970123.2.21 |access-date=3 February 2017 |work=The Oamaru Mail |volume=XXII |issue=6797 |date=23 January 1897 |page=2}} he relocated to Geelong and built up a profitable wool exporting company operating under the style of Holmes, White & Co.
He also supplied the gold diggings during the Victorian gold rush. The store of Holmes, White & Co in Melbourne's William Street does not exist any longer, but their premises at 114 Lydiard Street North in Ballarat still stand and are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.{{cite web|title=J.J Goller & Co, 114 Lydiard Street North|url=http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/result_detail/177412?print=true|publisher=Victorian Heritage Register|access-date=3 February 2017}}
Life in Scotland
Holmes and his family moved to Scotland in 1854 as there was better medical care available for his wife's poor health. He purchased a large estate in Lasswade{{cite book | url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-PlaNine-t1-body-d1-d1274.html |last=Platts |first=Una |title=Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook | chapter=White, Annie Julia née Holmes 1852–1932 |year=1980 |publisher=Avon Fine Prints |location=Christchurch |access-date=3 February 2017 | pages=252f}} near Edinburgh, and became involved in a group which became the New Zealand and Australia Land Company.
Life in New Zealand
In 1859, he returned to New Zealand on the Pirate as the company's general manager, but also spent time in Victoria to look after business interests there. In 1862, he travelled to England as one of the commissioners for the 1862 International Exhibition. In 1864, he sold his estate in Scotland and moved his family back to New Zealand. At first, they were living at Andersons Bay on Otago Peninsula. They then lived partly at Andersons Bay and partly at Awamoa, near Oamaru in North Otago. He was the owner of large sheep runs both at Awamoa and at Castlerock near Lumsden in Southland.{{cite book | editor-last= Thomson | editor-first=J. | year=1998 | title=Southern people: A dictionary of Otago Southland biography | pages=263f | publisher=Longacre Press | isbn=1-877135-11-9}} His station at Castlerock was overrun by rabbits in the 1870s, but Holmes managed to get on top of the problem; his son Stuart later gave presentations on how they went about this.{{cite news|title=Rabbit-Proof Fences in New Zealand|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162818215|access-date=3 February 2017|work=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser|date=10 October 1885|page=770}} Holmes was well known for importing quality stock for breeding, including Clydesdale horses and Cheviot sheep. Holmes was one of the original directors of the Mosgiel Woollen Mill and on retirement from active business, he sold his trading interests to Dalgety, Rattray & Co. In their later years, the Holmes lived in Hawkestone House, Wellington.
=Political career=
Holmes represented the Oteramika electorate in the Southland Provincial Council from 7 November 1864 to 6 July 1867.{{cite book |author-link = Guy Scholefield | last = Scholefield | first= Guy | title = New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 | edition = 3rd | orig-year=First published in 1913 | year = 1950 |publisher = Govt. Printer |location = Wellington | pages=221, 227}} He represented the Oreti electorate in Southland on the Otago Provincial Council, after Otago and Southland had reunited, from 31 March 1871 to 22 May 1873.
Holmes was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from 19 June 1866 until 1901, when he died.{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 |page=155}}
Family and death
His wife was a half-sister to the brothers John and Allan McLean. The Holmes had six children, including the barrister Allan Holmes. Their third daughter Katherine was an artist whose work has been collected by the Hocken Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library.{{Cite web|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-PlaNine-t1-body-d1-d599.html|title=HOLMES, Katherine McLean 1849–1925? {{!}} NZETC|website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz|access-date=20 June 2019}} Their youngest daughter Annie Julia was also an artist, known for her watercolour painting. Another daughter was Isabella, a founder of Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Isabella married George McLean, who served as a member of parliament in the 1860s and 1870s, and became a member of the Legislative Council in 1881.{{cite news |title=Death of a True Colonist |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ST19010928.2.8 |access-date=6 April 2014 | work=The Southland Times |date=28 September 1901 |issue=15057 |page=2}} A daughter of Isabella and George McLean married Thomas Wilford.{{DNZB|Butterworth|Susan |3w17|Wilford, Thomas Mason – Biography|4 February 2017}} The eldest daughter of the Holmes, Elizabeth, married in Melbourne in 1860.{{cite news|title=Marriage|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154843245|access-date=3 February 2017|work=The Age|date=1 May 1860|page=4}} His wife died in 1897, and Holmes died on 27 September 1901 aged 84. He was buried at Karori Cemetery.{{cite news|title=Local and General|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19010930.2.23?query=holmes%20funeral|access-date=4 February 2017|work=The Evening Post|volume=LXII|issue=79|date=30 September 1901|page=4}}{{cite web|title=Details| date=12 July 2012 |url=http://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/cemeteries/cemeteries-search/details?id=85852&serviceType=Burial&previousPage=%2fservices%2fcommunity-and-culture%2fcemeteries%2fcemeteries-search%2fresults%3fserviceType%3dAll%26lastName%3dHolmes%26fromDate%3d01%252f01%252f1897%26toDate%3d31%252f12%252f1901%26cemetery%3dKarori|publisher=Wellington City Council |access-date=4 February 2017}}