Ian Holbourn (5 November 1872 – 14 September 1935[1]), bornJohn Bernard Stoughton Holbourn, waslaird ofFoula, a professor and lecturer for theUniversity of Oxford, and a writer.
Holbourn was educated at theSlade School of Art andMerton College, Oxford. As a young man he became fond of the remote Scottish island of Foula, which he succeeded in purchasing around 1900, thus becoming itslaird.[2][3]
He was a co-founder ofRuskin College, and served on the college's correspondence and examining staff for many years. He was also appointed professor of theUniversity of California's art and architecture extension programme, and was instrumental in the expansion of the art department ofCarleton College in Minnesota, where he served part-time as a professor of art and archaeology.[1][2][3]
Holbourn was a second-class passenger on theRMS Lusitania on her last voyage in May 1915. During the voyage, Holbourn befriended 12-year-oldAvis Dolphin, who was being escorted to school and family in England by two nurses, Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith.[4]: 129
With his insights into the largely hushed-up events surrounding the wreck of theRMSOceanic on 8 September 1914 offFoula, Professor Holbourn was aware of the dangers presented toocean liners during theFirst World War, and as a passenger onLusitania was prepared to face the worst. Holbourn attempted to insist that Captain William Thomas Turner should take the precautions of orderinglifeboat drills and instructing passengers on how to wearlifejackets. His efforts to stimulate safety awareness during a time of war were unwelcome, and he was asked to keep quiet.[4]: 130 When theship was torpedoed by anImperial German NavyU-boat during theFirst World War on 7 May 1915, Holbourn guidedAvis Dolphin and her nurses to his cabin where he fitted them with life belts, even offering up his own;[4]: 204 he then steered them through the tilting passageways to the decks above and into alifeboat. This lifeboat capsized while being lowered into the water. Dolphin was saved, though her nurses were not.
Holbourn himself dived into the ocean to find himself surrounded by a mass of bodies and wreckage. His hope of reaching the nearest boat was interrupted when he stopped to help a man who was floating helplessly nearby. By the time Holbourn found his way to a boat, the man he had pulled along with him was dead.[4]: 250
Holbourn was picked up by the fishing boatWanderer of Peel and later transferred to theStormcock. He was one of over 750 rescued from theLusitania to arrive atQueenstown in Ireland that night.[citation needed]
Holbourn continued to write and remained lifelong friends with Avis Dolphin. One of his books,The Child of the Moat (1916), was written for Dolphin because she had complained that books for girls were uninteresting.[citation needed]
On most of his written works, Holbourn is identified as Ian Bernard Stoughton Holbourn. His published works include:
He was married to Marion Constance Archer-Shepherd, and together they had three sons.[citation needed]
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