Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/254

This page has been validated.
Hol]
DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
[Hop

judge of the Court of King's Bench. He was born on Jan. 25th, 1828, and educated at Winchester School, where he entered as a commoner in 1841, and carried off in two consecutive years the Queen's gold medal for the best Latin-English prose essays. In 1846 he left Winchester and proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as first class in classics in 1851, and took his M.A. degree in 1854. Having determined to embrace the legal profession, Mr. Justice Holroyd entered as a student at Gray's Inn in Nov. 1851, and was called to the bar in June 1855. For the next three years he practised with success, and also contributed to the press. But, having a fancy for colonial life, he decided to emigrate to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in 1859, in July of which year he was admitted to the Victorian bar, and to that of Tasmania in 1867. Judge Holroyd soon took a leading position at the Victorian bar in equity and mining cases, and in 1872 was offered the seat upon the bench rendered vacant by the retirement of the late Mr. Justice Williams. This, however, he declined, and continued to practise at the Equity Bar with constantly increasing success, being made Q.C. in 1879. In August 1881 he decided to accept the judgeship rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Wilberforce Stephen, and still retains his seat upon the Supreme Court bench of Victoria. Mr. Justice Holroyd married at Melbourne, in 1862, Anna Maria Hoyles, daughter of the late Henry Compton, of Totnes, Devon, and granddaughter of the Rev. T. Compton, sometime vicar of Paignton in that county.

Holt, James Richard, B.A., Professor of Classics and English Literature in the University of Auckland, N.Z., was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was Science Scholar 1876, B.A. 1880. He is author of "The Historical Method in Ethics, Jurisprudence, and Political Economy"; "The Ricardian Theory of Rent"; "Comparative Literature" (International Scientific Series).

Holt, Hon. Thomas, M.L.C., the son of a Leeds wool merchant, was born at Horbury, Yorkshire, in 1811. He acquired great experience as a wool-buyer both at home and abroad, and in 1882 became a partner in his father's business. In 1842 he emigrated to Australia, and was engaged in wool-buying till 1855. He also embarked largely in pastoral pursuits, his private residence and principal estate being known as "The Warren," Cook's River, near Sydney. In 1856, when responsible government was inaugurated, he was returned to the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales for the Stanley Boroughs (now Brisbane and Ipswich, Qd.), and was Colonial Treasurer in the Donaldson Government from June to August 1856. Subsequently he represented Newtown, and remained a member of the Assembly till 1866, when he paid a visit to Europe; and on his return in 1868 was nominated to the Legislative Council In 1873 he became a member of the Council of Education; and in 1888 was Executive Commissioner for New South Wales, in conjunction with Sir Saul Samuel, to the Amsterdam Exhibition. Subsequently Mr. Holt resided near London, and supplied the means for various charitable enterprises under the auspices of the Salvation Army. He died at Halcot, Bexley, Kent, on Sept. 5th, 1888.

Homburg, Robert, M.P., ex-Attorney-General, South Australia, is a German by birth, being a native of the city of Brunswick. He was born on March 10th, 1848, and arrived in South Australia in the year 1857. He was employed in a land agency business until 1868, when he was articled to Mr. (now his Honour Mr. Justice) Boucaut. The last two years of his articles were served in the office of Sir J. W. Downer, and he was admitted to the bar in April 1874. Mr. Homburg was elected to Parliament as a representative for Gumeracha in 1884, and at the election of 1887 was re-elected with the late Sir R. D. Ross. In April 1890 he was again returned with Mr. T. Hack. In 1880 for a short period he was president of the German Club. He was appointed Attorney-General in Mr. Playford's second Ministry in August 1890, and held office till June 1892, when he retired with his colleagues.

Hopetoun, His Excellency the Right Hon. John Adrian Louis (Hope), Earl of, G.C.M.G., ninth Governor of Victoria, is the eldest son of the sixth earl and Ethelred Anne his wife, daughter of C. T. S. Birch Reynardson, of Holywell Hall, Lincolnshire, and was born at Hopetoun House, N.B., on Sept. 25th, 1860.

238