See also
1. Thomas HOLMES, son of Henry HOLMES of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight (c. 1660-1738) and Mary HOLMES (1678-1760), was born in 1699 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. He was christened on [Julian] 2 November 1699. He was a Governor of the Isle of Wight. He had the title '1st Baron Holmes of Kilmallock'. He married Anne PLAYER in 1727. He died in [Julian] July 1764. He was buried on [Julian] 21 July 1764 in Yarmouth. He married Catherine LEIGH.
An indication of the corruption which existed on the Isle of Wight was the election of Benjamin Leigh as Mayor for the year 1763. Only two Burgesses were present at the meeting, Leigh and the retiring Mayor, Thomas Lord Holmes (Sir Robert Holmes grandson). The plaque on the front of the Town Hall commemorates this election. In the following year the same two changed places and Thomas Lord Holmes became Mayor again.
In 1752 The Holmes Trust was set up by Thomas Lord Holmes in memory of his son. Small amounts of money are distributed annually on 11th July to poor people in the town and the ceremony is held in the church to this day.
In 1763 The Town Hall, originally known as the Guildhall, was rebuilt by Thomas Lord Holmes. Date of original unknown--Market house (plain brick building) recorded there 1706.
In 1764 Thomas Lord Holmes, Governor of the Island, died and his house, adjacent to the Castle, became the George Inn.
From Parliamentary Records:
During the first ten years of this period Yarmouth was controlled by Thomas Holmes (created in 1760 Baron Holmes in the Irish peerage), and managed by him on behalf of Government. There was an anti-Holmes party in the Isle of Wight, headed by Sir Thomas Wortley and Lord Carnarvon; and when Holmes died in July 1764 they hoped to take over from him. But the appointment of governor of the Isle of Wight was given to Hans Stanley (q.v.), who was committed to neither side. Stanley wrote shortly after his appointment; 1
"I think I see very clearly that the governor of the Isle of Wight in elections is but a secondhand interest; either party will be glad to make some sort of terms with him in order to procure favours for their friends, and perhaps it would not have been ill policy to adopt the Irish maxim of joining with the strongest after they had first settled that point amongst themselves".
At Yarmouth after Holmes's death there was a division of interests between the Rev. Leonard Troughear Holmes, Lord Holmes's nephew and successor, and Lord Holmes's brother-in-law, Barnabas Eveleigh Leigh; but this was soon composed by each agreeing to return one Member.' Holmes then offered his interest in the Isle of Wight to Administration, and Stanley advised Grenville to accept.
Holmes worked with each successive Administration, and at the general election of 1768 he had Government support in the attack made upon him by the Worsley-Oglander-Jervoise Clarke party in all three Isles of Wight constituencies. At Yarmouth Holmes's candidates were defeated, but returned on petition; and before the general election of 1774 Holmes and Jervoise Clarke came to an agreement to return one Member each.
Catherine LEIGH died on [Julian] 4 March 1784. She was buried on [Julian] 14 March 1784 in Yarmouth. She and Thomas HOLMES had the following children:
| +2 |
Anne PLAYER was born on 5 February 1695. She died in September 1743. She was buried on [Julian] 29 September 1743 in Alverstoke, Hants..
2. Henry HOLMES, child of Thomas HOLMES and Catherine LEIGH, was born in 1746. He/she died in 1751.