For other people with the same name, seeGeorge Holt.
George Holt, junior. Oil on canvas, 1892, by Robert E. MorrisonPresentation portrait on the 80th birthday of Elizabeth Holt, widow of George Holt. Oil on canvas, 1913, byGeorge Henry
George Holt (1825 – 3 April 1896) was a Victorian ship owner, merchant and art collector fromLiverpool.[1] Together with William James Lamport, he founded theLamport and Holt shipping line in 1845.[2]
Holt was a son ofGeorge Holt and Emma Durning.[citation needed] He married fellow Liverpudlian Elizabeth Bright on 1 December 1853 and died on 3 April 1896.[3] The Holts lived initially atEdge Lane, and then inWest Derby before moving in 1884 toSudley House inAigburth, Liverpool.[4] They had one child,Emma Holt, who was born in 1862, inherited the property and lived there until her death in 1944.[5] Her mother, who was born in 1833, had died in 1920.[6]
Aside from business interests and his role with theMersey Docks and Harbour Board, Holt was very involved with and supportive of both the experimental work of the physicistOliver Lodge and theLiverpool Physical Society. He donated over £40,000 to University College, Liverpool, which was the precursor of theUniversity of Liverpool,[9] including endowments for professorial chairs in physiology and pathology, and for research studentships in medical sciences.[10] The University of Liverpool's George Holt Building, which currently houses five laboratories of the university's department of computer science, is named after him. His wife and daughter, Emma Holt, contributed £10,000 towards the total £24,000 cost of erecting the building, which opened in 1904[11][12] Elizabeth and Emma would in time donate their time, paintings, furniture and over £30,000 to the university.[13]There is a Halls of Residence atEdge Hill University called Holt in his honour.[citation needed]
He was President of Manchester College, Oxford (now namedHarris Manchester College) from 1894 to 1896.
^Roderick, G. W.; Stephens, M. D. (1975). "The Development of Science and Technology in a Civic University: Liverpool 1881-1914".The Irish Journal of Education / Iris Eireannach an Oideachais.9 (2):77–96.JSTOR30076713.
