Richard Rivington Holmes


Sir Richard Rivington Holmes, KCVO was a British archivist and courtier.

Biography

Holmes was Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle for Queen Victoria, and was reappointed as such by King Edward VII in 1901.
He was a lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Berkshire Regiment.
He died in London on 22 March 1911, and was buried at Upton, Buckinghamshire.

Family

In 1880, Holmes married Evelyn Gee, daughter of Rev. Richard Gee, Vicar of New Windsor and Canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Ethiopian collection

Holmes was part of the British Expedition to Abyssinia, during which many Ethiopian documents, cultural artefacts, and art objects were looted as spoils of war by British soldiers. Holmes himself took a large cache of loot from the Battle of Magdala back to Great Britain, much of which found its way into the British Museum.