THE SALAMANCA CORPUS:

DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF ENGLISH DIALECT TEXTS

CHESHIRE

DING 2022: “Very little is known about him. Through a careful search of contemporary sources and genealogical databases we have managed to uncover the following information. He was born on August 2nd, 1829 at Peckam, Sur., although he descended from a Cheshire family and spent there most of his life. He studied agriculture at Cirencester, Glo., and succeeded his father at the family farm in Mobberley, Ches. His interest in botany dates from his youth. In the 1861 and 1871 census records he is listed as living at Mobberley, Chs., with his first wife and a growing family. In 1861 his occupation is given as Farmer of 72 acres and Farmer of 125 acres in 1871. By 1877 he had left the farm and become Agent to a land owner at Norton Priory, near Halton, Ches. Between 1878 and 1881 he was living in Runcorn, Chs. The 1881 census shows him living in Norton.

Robert Holland was interested in Cheshire dialect and folklore. In the Preface to his 1886  glossary of Chester words he states that he has "lived in Cheshire nearly all [his] life...The majority of the words...are entered from [his] own knowledge of them." (v) It is signed in Frodsham, about 10 miles from Walton. He was a member of the Folklore Society. In 1877 he delivered a lecture on "The Folk Lore of Natural History" to the Warrington Literary and Philosophical Society. He was a member of the English Dialect Society from 1876. The Fifth Annual Report of the  Society, for 1877, states that he had "consented to act as the recipient and collector of contributions towards a Glossary of Cheshire Words, and will doubtless eventually undertake the editorship." (4). Indeed, in 1886 he published Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester.

Robert Holland is referred to as "the Lancashire botanist" and "the Manchester botanist" in contemporary publications (For instance, in The Phytologist (V. 1861). In 1872 he was appointed Consulting Botanist of the Cheshire Farmers' Supply Association. He would also become consulting botanist and examiner of seeds for the Cheshire Agricultural Society. He published articles and notes in The Phytologist (1850), Hardwicke's Science-Gossip (1865: 210; Jan. 1866:8-10; May 1866:107-108, July 1866: 163; 1870; 1877: 209), The Treasury of Botany (1870, 1874,1876) or The Journal of Botany: British and Foreign (1871, 1872, 1882 and 1884).

Together with James Britten (1846-1924), whom he had met in 1868, he wrote letters requesting information about the local names of English plants to periodicals such as The Journal of Botany (1868. Vol. V: 277-78; 1869. Vol. 7: 32). Their efforts would result in the publication of A Dictionary of English Plant Names between 1878 and 1886.

He died on 16th July, 1893 at Acton Grange, Walton, Ches."

WORKS

1886. A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester. London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co. SC. EDD. SC.

and Robert Holland. 1886. A Dictionary of English Plant-Names. Vol. I. London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner and Co. EDD. SC.

1886. and James Britten. A Dictionary of English Plant-Names. vol. II. London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner and Co. EDD. SC.

NOT IN KINGKONG PROJECT

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT HIS LIFE AND WORKS SEE

Anonymous. 1893. "Obituary". The Naturalist: A Monthly Journal of Natural History for the North of England: 282.

Britten, James. 1893."In Memory of Robert Holland." The Journal of Botany. 31. August: 241-43

English Dialect Society. Fifth Report, for the year 1877.

Mobberley Census Records for 1861 and 1871

Copyright © 2022- DING, María F.García-Bermejo Giner, The Salamanca Corpus, Universidad de Salamanca

Robert Holland

(1829-1893)