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2021-04-11T16:26:06Z

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'''Sir Thomas William Holderness, 1st Baronet''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|KCSI}} (11 June 1849 – 16 September 1924) was the first former member of the [[Indian Civil Service]] to be appointed to the post of [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India]]<ref name="dnb" /> (although [[George Russell Clerk|Sir George Russell Clerk]] had previously been a member of the [[East India Company]] Civil Service).

==Early life and education==
Holderness came from a wealthy [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] family,<ref name="dnb">Biography, ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''</ref> but was born in [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], Canada, where his parents, John William Holderness and his wife Mary Ann (née Macleod), were then settled.<ref name="dnb" /> The family returned to England shortly after his birth. Although the premature death of his father in 1865 left the family in straitened circumstances, he managed to pay for his education at [[Cheltenham College]] by winning several scholarships and prizes,<ref name="dnb" /> and in 1879 went up to [[University College, Oxford]], again with a scholarship.<ref name="dnb" /> He passed the entrance exam for the Indian Civil Service in 1870, one of only about forty who passed every year, with high enough marks to be allowed to choose which province he served in.<ref name="dnb" /> He received a [[degree class|second]] in [[classical mods]] in 1871 and a second in law and modern history in 1872, leaving for India after his graduation.<ref name="dnb" />

==Career in the Indian Civil Service==
Holderness chose to enter civil service in the [[North-Western Provinces]] and served from 1873 to 1876 as a district officer in the small towns of [[Bijnor]], [[Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh|Fatehpur]], and [[Muzaffarnagar]]. He also wrote articles for the press, and his writings and administrative ability brought him to the notice of [[Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces|Lieutenant-Governor]] [[John Strachey (civil servant)|Sir John Strachey]], who called him to the provincial capital, [[Allahabad]], in 1876 to take up a post in the provincial government offices.<ref name="dnb" />

In 1881, he was appointed under-secretary to the [[Indian Revenue Department|Revenue Department]] of the [[British Raj|Government of India]] in [[Calcutta]]. In 1885, he became head of [[Pilibhit district]], and in 1888 he was appointed director of land records and agriculture of the North-Western Provinces. Later he became secretary to the Government of the North-West Provinces. In 1898, he was appointed secretary to the [[Indian Revenue and Agricultural Department|Revenue and Agricultural Department]] of the Government of India.

On retirement from the ICS in 1901, he joined the [[India Office]] in [[Whitehall]] as Secretary of the Revenue, Statistics and Commerce Department. On the death of [[Richmond Ritchie|Sir Richmond Ritchie]] in 1912, he became the permanent under-secretary, the professional head of the India Office, continuing to occupy the post until his retirement in 1919. Although he reached the usual retirement age of 65 in June 1914, he was granted an extension, which was extended still further after the outbreak of the [[First World War]], in which his long experience of Indian administration was invaluable.<ref name="dnb" />

==Awards and honours==
Holderness was appointed [[Companion of the Order of the Star of India]] (CSI) in 1898,<ref name="dnb" /> awarded the [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]] in Gold in 1901,<ref name="dnb" /> and appointed [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]] (KCSI) in 1907.<ref name="dnb" /> He was then appointed [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB) in the 1914 Birthday Honours<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28842 |date=19 June 1914 |page=4877 |supp=y}}</ref> and [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] (GCB) in the [[1917 Birthday Honours]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30111 |date=1 June 1917 |page=5456 |supp=y}}</ref> and was created a [[baronet]], of [[Tadworth]], in the County of [[Surrey]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31830 |date=19 March 1920 |page=3432 }}</ref> in the 1920 New Year Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |page=2 |supp=y}}</ref> He was offered a [[British peerage|peerage]], but refused on financial grounds.<ref name="dnb" />

==Family and later life==
On 14 March 1885, Holderness married Lucy Shepherd Elsmie, daughter of [[George Robert Elsmie]], a fellow member of the ICS. They had a daughter and a son.<ref name="dnb" /> He died suddenly while walking on the [[golf links]] at [[Walton-on-the-Hill]] near his home in Tadworth, Surrey.<ref name="dnb" /> He was succeeded in the [[Holderness baronets|baronetcy]] by his son, [[Sir Ernest Holderness, 2nd Baronet|Ernest]], a British international [[golf]]er.

==Writings==
* ''Narrative of the Indian Famine'', 1897
* Editor, 4th edition of Sir John Strachey's ''India'', 1911
* ''People and Problems of India'', 1912

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Biography, ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''
*Obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 17 September 1924

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{{succession box | title=[[British Raj|Secretary to the Government of India in the Revenue and Agricultural Department]] | years=1898–1900 | before=[[Edward Buck (administrator)|Sir Edward Buck]] | after=[[Bampfylde Fuller]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[India Office|Secretary of the Revenue, Statistics and Commerce Department, India Office]] | years=1901–1912 | before=[[Charles Bernard (administrator)|Sir Charles Bernard]] | after=[[Francis Courtney Drake]]}}
{{succession box | title = [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India]] | years = 1912–1920 | before = [[Richmond Ritchie|Sir Richmond Ritchie]] | after = [[William Duke (colonial governor)|Sir William Duke]]}}
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{{s-ttl| title=[[Holderness baronets|Baronet]]<br>'''(of Tadworth)''' | years=1920–1924}}
{{s-aft| after= [[Ernest Holderness]] }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holderness, Thomas}}
[[Category:1849 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Saint John, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:People educated at Cheltenham College]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for India]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]]

Thomas Holderness - Revision history

imported>CrumbleCrumble at 16:26, 11 April 2021