Nathaniel Holmes

Nathaniel Holmes (January 2, 1814 or July 2, 1814 or July 2, 1815 in Peterborough, New Hampshire— February 26 1901 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American jurist who served on the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1865 to 1868.

Early life Holmes' parents were both the children of immigrants, with his father's father being from County Antrim and his mother's father being from Fifeshire. and Thomas Clement Fletcher appointed Holmes to fill one of the newly-vacated seats on the state Supreme Court.

In 1867, the University of Missouri appointed him a Professor of Law; however, he did not teach any courses. In 1868, he resigned from the court, and returned to Harvard Law School, where he served as Royall Professor of Law. In 1872, he resigned from Harvard and returned to St. Louis, where he practiced law until 1883, at which point he retired and returned to Cambridge, where he died in 1901.

Other activities Holmes was an early proponent of the idea that Francis Bacon wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare, and in 1866 published a 600-page book, The Authorship of Shakespeare, in support of this.