Geoff Holman Collection

Records of Holman Brothers Ltd, including ledgers, wage books, photographs, trade catalogues, correspondence, plans and other documents dating from the 19th century to 1975. These relate largely to ploughing and threshing, but also to millwrighting. To this Geoff Holman has added material he created or collected from the late 20th century to the 2000s relating to his research into the firm and his wider interest in wind and water mills. This includes photographs of mills, digital and paper drafts of a book on Holman Brothers and related research, and digital files on mills, mainly those in Kent.

Geoffrey Richard Holman was born on 18 August 1937 in Canterbury to Thomas Richard Holman (1908-2000; known as Tom) and Margaret Holman nee Nicholson (1908-2003). Tom Holman was the last to own the family firm Holman Brothers Ltd, founded 1816, engineers and millwrights and later manufacturers and dealers in agricultural machinery. The firm closed down in 1975 on Tom’s retirement.
Tom Holman was a keen photographer, and both he and Geoff were involved in the Canterbury Camera Club. Geoff went on to became a professional photographer, working freelance and for various organisations, and later a teacher of audio-visual media. Geoff was married three times. His second wife Jennifer was the mother of his two children, Sophie and Timothy. He met his third wife, Lynn at work and they were married from 2000 until his death.
Geoff researched the history of Holman Brothers for a planned book. He was also interested generally in wind and water mills - a member of the Kent Mills Group until it folded in 2003, and later founder and chairman of the Kent Mills Society from 2010 until his death, when it also came to an end. He was involved in the restoration of the Holman mill in Jerusalem, Montefiore Windmill.
Geoff Holman died on 20 December 2011. For more information see the featured people section of our website: http://test.millsarchive.org/explore/people/biographies/entry/111761/Geoff-Holman

This collection may be consulted free of charge at the Mills Archive; please email "visitors@millsarchive.org":mailto:visitors@millsarchive.org?subject=Request%20to%20consult%20collection%20HOLM to arrange an appointment.

Geoffrey Richard Holman was born on 18 August 1937 in Canterbury to Thomas Richard Holman (1908-2000; known as Tom) and Margaret Holman nee Nicholson (1908-2003). Tom Holman was the last to own the family firm Holman Brothers Ltd, founded 1816, engineers and millwrights and later manufacturers and dealers in agricultural machinery. The firm closed down in 1975 on Tom’s retirement.
Tom Holman was a keen photographer, and both he and Geoff were involved in the Canterbury Camera Club. Geoff went on to became a professional photographer, working freelance and for various organisations, and later a teacher of audio-visual media. Geoff was married three times. His second wife Jennifer was the mother of his two children, Sophie and Timothy. He met his third wife, Lynn at work and they were married from 2000 until his death.
Geoff researched the history of Holman Brothers for a planned book. He was also interested generally in wind and water mills - a member of the Kent Mills Group until it folded in 2003, and later founder and chairman of the Kent Mills Society from 2010 until his death, when it also came to an end. He was involved in the restoration of the Holman mill in Jerusalem, Montefiore Windmill.
Geoff Holman died on 20 December 2011. For more information see the featured people section of our website: http://test.millsarchive.org/explore/people/biographies/entry/111761/Geoff-Holman

Collection catalogued by Nathanael Hodge, November - December 2013. "Read more about the cataloguing process":https://millsarchive.org/explore/features-and-articles/entry/175628/geoff-holman-collection/12975. Photographs digitised by Cara Sheldrake, March 2014 and Kate Doughty, Nov 2015 - Jan 2016.

Sources consulted:

Fielding, F., P. McFarlane, M. Steed, S. Tyler & M. Wood. (1992). The Holmans of Canterbury. Canterbury: Oaten Hill and District Society.

Fielding, F., S. Tyler & M. Wood. (1993). Dover Street Remembered. Canterbury: Oaten Hill and District Society.

Hastings, J., & Perriss, B. (1998). Nunnery Fields Remembered. Canterbury: Oaten Hill and District Society.

The original Holman Brothers records in this collection were inherited by Geoff Holman from his father Tom, being the remainder of the Holman archive after Tom had donated parts to various repositories. The collection was donated to the archive by Geoff's widow Lynn Holman in June 2012.
The collection was in a relatively well ordered state when received by the archive, with records of particular types stored in labelled boxes, alongside other boxes of a more miscellaneous nature. The series into which the collection has been divided broadly reflect this arrangement.
The first four series contain records of Holman Brothers Ltd. The photographs were partly listed and numbered by Geoff himself and have been catalogued as a series, retaining his numbering (HOLM-4). The trade catalogues also formed a clearly distinguishable unit and have been catalogued as a series (HOLM-3). The remainder have been divided up into original records and copies of material held elsewhere, and catalogued as two series (HOLM-1 and HOLM-2). Material collected or created by Geoff Holman follows, divided into series according to its nature (HOLM-5 to HOLM-12). A small number of personal items relating to Geoff’s life have been placed together as the final series (HOLM-13).
Printed material including booklets, reprints, cuttings and ephemera has been moved to the Mills Archive library. Postcards have been placed in the Watlington Postcard and Art Collection. Duplicates, photocopied material, printouts from websites and digital copies of published material have been discarded.

The Holman Records (ref no: CCA-U157) at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives contains the main series of Holman ledgers, wage books and similar volumes.
The John Holman Collection of Mill Memorabilia at the University of Kent Special Collections, Templeman Library is a similar collection of material from another member of the family relating to mills in Kent.
The Mills Archive holds an architectural drawing of a proposed windmill by Holman Brothers, found with two similar drawings also probably by the firm (ref no: 1131062).

The photocopied notebooks in HOLM/2, and probably the other items in that series, are copied from a collection of approximately 75 Holman engineering notebooks held by the University of Kent Special Collections, Templeman Library.

Published