Clive Holmes

Clive Anthony Holmes (10 November 1943 – 25 July 2022) was an English historian of the Early Modern Britain period, especially the Tudor and Stuart periods as well as the English Civil War.

Early life and education

Holmes' father was in the Metropolitan Police. Morrill has characterised some of Holmes' work as having "brilliantly unraveled" historical evidence. At times he also taught in some large-lecture courses on Western Civilisation.

Back to England Liking life at Cornell but seeking to be closer to his source materials, Holmes returned to England in 1987, He received a teaching award from Oxford in 2005. This study of the landed gentry garnered positive notices. A review of it in Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies said that "It will remain the standard introduction and work of reference on the subject of gentry studies for years to come."

The English Civil War period was a prime topic for conflicting and sometimes strident views among historians and Holmes was no exception. His reading of the historical evidence got him into two pronounced academic disputes, one with Mark Kishlansky of Harvard University regarding Charles I's rule and another with Sean Kelsey of the University of Buckingham over the same monarch's trial. A conference was held in his honour and a Festschrift subsequently emerged from it, published by Routledge, Revolutionary England, c.1630–c.1660: Essays for Clive Holmes. A review in the journal Parliamentary History said that while such volumes typically get unsure responses, "in this case it seems worthwhile to honour the recipient". He continued to actively research and publish after his retirement; however, a lengthy planned work on the early modern history of the Court of Chancery was never completed.

Holmes died at his home in Oxford in 2022.

Selected publications The Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers, 1644–1646 (Suffolk Records Society, 1970) [editor] The Eastern Association in the English Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 1974) Seventeenth-century Lincolnshire (Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1980) "The County Community in Stuart Historiography" (Journal of British Studies, 1980) The Gentry in England and Wales, 1500–1700 (Macmillan, 1994) [co-author with Felicity Heal] "Why Did the Prosecution of Witches Cease in England?" (Historical Association, 2013)