Matthew Holmes

Matthew Holmes (15 September 1817 – 27 September 1901) was a New Zealand politician and runholder. He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council for 35 years (1866–1901). Holmes was from Ireland and made his money in Victoria from farming, exporting wool, and supplying the gold fields. The family lived in Scotland for some years but Holmes moved to New Zealand. His family followed him years later and they lived for most of their time in Otago, but retired to Wellington. Early life Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland on 15 September 1817, Holmes received his education in his home town. After school, he was trained in commerce at McFarland's woollen mill in Derry. Life in Australia Holmes moved to Australia in 1837 and his first business venture was a stationery shop in Melbourne's Collins Street with William Kerr. The partnership was dissolved at the end of 1841; his business partner would later found The Argus. Holmes took over the running of the stationery shop by himself. In 1843, he was declared insolvent by the courts and the stock was auctioned. It was not until 1845 that he was discharged. For some time, he had a dairy farm called "Glencairn" in the Barrabool Hills outside of Geelong.