Diary of William Holmes 1892-3

Diary of William Holmes, student at St John’s College, York, 1892-3. Transcribed by Marcia Sanderson (Information Assistant), Lowen Frampton (Information Assistant), Emma Crossland (Student Intern – History), Grace Langley (Student Intern – History) and Raluca-Maria Corcea (Student Intern – English Literature), 2023-2024.

Content note: This diary was written in the 1890s, when attitudes towards race were very different from those today. The diary uses language that modern readers may find offensive, and describes events taking place in former colonies of the British Empire which readers may find shocking or upsetting. The contents of the diary have been transcribed faithfully, with the exception of one instance of a racial slur which is highly offensive today, which has been omitted from the transcription with an explanatory footnote. Footnotes have been used throughout the text to provide additional historical context for the diary’s contents.