Holmes, was a scholar best known for his extensive and "fundamental"[1] work on Julius Caesar and his Gallic War commentaries.
He was the fifth son of Robert Holmes, a landed proprietor and a descendant of John Arbuthnot, a friend of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.
Holmes was educated at Merchant Taylors' School[2] and Christ Church, Oxford.
In addition to his books, Holmes published a number of articles in the English Historical Review, Classical Quarterly, and other journals.
Holmes wrote several articles, and Bill Thayer has documented "a flurry of argument and counter-argument" among Holmes and other scholars on the identity of the Portus Itius named by Caesar.