Emma Holt was the only child of George and Elizabeth Holt, born in West Derby in 1862. George Holt Jnr was co-founder of the Lamport and Holt shipping Line and was a strong supporter of University College, Liverpool where Emma attended lectures on architecture in 1884 and in 1900-1901 when it was known as University College. George contributed hugely to commercial and philanthropic activities in Liverpool and was an early supporter of higher education, providing Liverpool University with finance to cover two Professorships, and enabled the building of the pathological laboratories. Liverpool University still awards the George Holt Scholarship to young science students to assist them in their studies. The Holt family had lived in Edge Lane and then West Derby before settling at Sudley House when Emma was 21, where she remained for the next 60 years of her life. Sudley was built in 1821 by corn merchant Nicholas Robinson and when subsequently bought was extended and redecorated by the Holt family.
Emma's family were
Unitarian's and she was a strong supporter of the Reverend John Hamilton
Thom, minister at the Renshaw Street Unitarian Chapel on Mount Pleasant
in Liverpool. She became a leader of that chapel and after Thom died in
1894, and the chapel began its move to Ullet Street, she continued as one
of its leaders.When her father died in 1896, Emma and her mother
carried on his legacy with charity work, using the morning room at
Sudley as her office. She had inherited a substantial fortune on the
death of her father and used her wealth to continue the family tradition
of University patronage with a particular interest in the
welfare and advancement of women students. She helped to run Liverpool
University, an area of the District Nursing Association, and many other
health charities. In those days, with no National Health Service, and much poverty in Liverpool, Emma had been brought up to
believe that it was the family's responsibility to use its wealth for
the good of the community. In 1909 she joined the council of the
University of Liverpool and apart from a year gap in 1915-16 she served
there until 1934, her mother having passed away in 1920. The university
had been created in 1903 and she was unusual in being a woman on the
university's council, in addition to being a life governor of the
university and University College. Seen as the university's 'fairy godmother', finding few peers to her generosity, it recognised her contribution when
they granted her an honorary doctorate of laws in 1928.
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| Emma aged 66 |
Emma never married or had children, and her passing in 1944 marked the end of the Holt family line. She bequeathed Sudley House and its paintings to the City of Liverpool. This was so that the people of Liverpool could see the pieces of artwork collected by her father in their original setting. In 1889 Percy Bigland had completed a portrait of Emma and it is part of the Sudley House collection. Unfortunately when Emma bequeathed the House it didn't state that the furnishings were also to be kept. This meant that many items of furniture were sold by the Council at the time. Today, Sudley House is one of only a few period homes decorated in a Victorian style that still has many of its original features. It houses the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection in Britain still hanging in its original location This is thanks to George and Emma's shared passion for art and philanthropy, which continues to inspire visitors every day.
Emma died on the 19th of December 1944 at her home in Coniston where she had retired.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/03/a-liverpool-exemplar-giles-gilbert-scott.html
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