Holman Brothers photographs

Photographs of Holman Brothers' premises, machinery and workers; both originals and later copies. A note with the photographs stated 'most probably taken by Tom Holman who was a keen photographer'. Some are large prints dating from the 1970s-1980s of earlier images, made for the Canterbury Camera Club.

Photographs 1-138 were numbered and listed by Geoff Holman; his numbering has been retained and his list has been used as the basis for this catalogue (some numbers, eg 32 seem not to have been used). Further photos have been added, continuing the numbering. Alongside the Holman photographs Geoff included in his numbering several postcards, presumably not part of the original set of Holman photos. Geoff seems to have included these because he intended to use them in his book (printouts of scans of these are included in the draft, HOLM/8/2). Those depicting mills have been removed and placed in the Watlington Postcard and Art Collection (nos HB 131-4, 136, 138).

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

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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

Published