John Dalrymple Edgar HOLMES

Lieutenant-Colonel John Dalrymple Edgar Holmes CIE MA DSc CVD MRCVS was born at Tipperary on 29 March 1867, the son of the Reverend John Holmes. He was educated at Tipperary Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating BA in 1890 before turning to veterinary medicine. After study at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College and the Royal Veterinary College, London, he qualified MRCVS in May 1895.

Holmes joined the Army Veterinary Department in 1895 and subsequently transferred to the Indian Civil Veterinary Department. His career increasingly centred on research. He worked at the Muktesar Laboratory, studied at Cambridge and in Paris, and returned to India to become Imperial Bacteriologist at Muktesar. His scientific work in veterinary pathology and serum production brought him a formidable professional reputation.

He received the Steele Memorial Medal for veterinary research in 1912 and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1913. In November 1914 he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Civil Veterinary Department. He wrote extensively on veterinary science and on the work of the Muktesar laboratory.

Holmes died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage at Bareilly on 2 March 1915, aged 47. Contemporary veterinary obituaries described his death as a major loss to Indian agriculture and veterinary pathology. He was buried at Bareilly.