He was placed by an uncle at Barwis's school in Soho Square, where amateur acting was in vogue.

With a view to the church as a career, he matriculated 7 February 1783 at The Queen's College, Oxford, but took no degree.

[4] His original characters include Harry Thunder in John O'Keeffe's Wild Oats, 16 April 1791, Harry Dornton in Thomas Holcroft's The Road to Ruin, 18 February 1792, and many parts in plays by Frederick Reynolds, Hannah Cowley, and other dramatists.

A pamphlet A Statement of the Differences subsisting between the Proprietors and Performers of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden[5] was published in 1800, and went through several editions: its authorship was attributed to Holman.

The actors objected to restrictions on their power of giving orders for admission, and to change in the charges for benefits and the amount of fines for the refusal of a character.

[2] Holman appeared a few times at the Haymarket Theatre, (located at 18 Suffolk St, London SW1Y 4HT, UK) where he produced his What a Blunder, a comic opera in three acts, in which he was Count Alphonso d'Esparza.

[2] On 31 July 1806 Holman played in Dublin for his benefit Antony in All for Love, by John Dryden, to the Ventidius of Thomas Potter Cooke.

On 22 August 1812, as Jaffier in Thomas Otway's Venice Preserved, he reappeared at the Haymarket after eleven years' absence; and played a few further parts.