Holland Creek (north of Windermere), Holland Creek Ridge Road
“Tall, sporting a moustache, accustomed to wielding power and ordering people around, he had a difficult personality and we children were moderately but suitably terrified of him.”43
Holland Creek, flowing into Windermere Lake near Windermere, is named for an individual who arguably had more to do with Fairmont than with Windermere.
William Heap Holland was born in early 1874 in Manchester, England as the eldest child of Samuel and Rachel Ann (née Heap) Holland.1 His family was one of Manchester fibre royalty, with his father coming from a family of cotton spinners and his mother’s father being a woolen manufacturer at the time of her marriage.2
The Holland Family
William Heap Holland’s grandfather, William Holland, was something of a self-made man, being the son of a labourer who began working for mill owners and advanced until he was able to purchase and build his own mills. He was a businessman but also an inventor, creating a device in 1861 to modify spinning machinery to handle Egyptian cotton. The invention was incredibly valuable as, after the American Civil War broke out in April 1861, the Union Army began to blockade cotton exports to England from the southern Confederate States. Being able to process non-American cotton was a major breakthrough for William Holland and Sons, but rather than patent the device himself, Holland gifted it to the country.3
Still, William Holland became very wealthy in his lifetime, leaving an estate at the time of his death in 1892 of £211,319 9s 5d.4 His sons, Samuel and William Henry, took over the business. William Heap Holland’s father, Samuel, consistently identifies his occupation on census records as “cotton spinner”, even though “cotton mill owner” might be more accurate.5
The Family Business
William Heap Holland had three siblings, a younger brother and two sisters, and he went on to be educated at The Leys School in Cambridgeshire.6 He clearly showed interest in the cotton business, however, and on the 1901 census he lived with his parents in Lancashire while listing his occupation as “worsted spinner”. Like his father, William would consistently identify himself with this title rather than any mention of being a mill owner or manufacturer.7
Starting a Family
William’s life took a turn in 1901 when he met Constance Gibbons, the daughter of a nail manufacturer in Cheshire.8 According to Holland family lore, Constance, “had just had a disagreement with a man she deeply loved. Thinking to make him jealous, she flirted with Mr Holland, who instantly fell in love with her.”9
The two were married (in what is later described as a “hasty marriage”10) on 11 June 1902,11 and their son Gerald William Leigh Holland was born on 27 July 1903.
A few months following the birth of their son, the marriage began to fall apart. Constance left the Holland home of The Cottage at Alderley Edge in Chester on 4 September 1903, taking her son with her, and going to stay with her parents. She refused to return until certain concessions were made.
As in any such case, there were two sides to the story, and neither William or Constance did a great job at communicating as they attempted to reach a reconciliation. Records of subsequent court filings give an interesting glimpse of both sides – this is going to get a bit gossipy, so if you want to skip the drama, just jump down to the next section.
The He Said/She Said Section
At the heart of the disagreement from Constance’s (Connie’s) perspective seems to have been her lack of control in the household following her marriage. She took particular offense to the presence of Mrs Brough (a servant whom may have been the housekeeper), but she also wanted complete control inside the house – hiring and firing the women servants and having control of an allowance for house keeping. This control extended also to decorating the house, with Connie wanting to bring with her “cloths and articles of furniture and knick knacks,” and for room to be found for them in the Holland home.
In short, it seems that Constance wanted to make the Holland home her home as well. She was frustrated that her husband’s servants seemed to have “occupied the position that ought to have been mine,” suggesting that those servants had more influence and power in the household than she did.
William Heap Holland, on the other hand, comes across in these court filings as being confused and largely oblivious to all of this. As a tentative step towards reconciliation he dismisses Mrs Brough (“as I think unreasonably”), seeming to assume that this would be the end of the matter. Connie admits this to be “certainly a step in the right direction,” and continues in a letter to “Will” a hopeful list of other demands that she wants addressed, “as I cannot bear a repetition of all the unhappiness I have suffered during my short married life.”
Rather than continue to discuss the matter, at this point William takes things to the courts, filing on 23 November 1903 a Petition for Restitution of Conjugal Rights. This is pretty much what it sounds like: William wanted a judge to force Constance to return, to grant him custody of their son, and to charge Constance the costs of the court proceedings. He submits as part of this filing copies of a number of letters between the two, which is how we have details from both perspectives.
One of these letters, sent by William on 27 November, after the original filing, gives insight to his frustration. In this, William tells Connie that her previous reply gave, “no valid reason,” for her refusing to return, “and merely continues a discussion of irrelevant topics which promises to be never ending.” He continues by refusing any further discussion of such “irrelevant topics” and instead asks that she return “without further discussion and unconditionally.” (To be clear, these “irrelevant topics” refer to her having control of the household staff, an allowance, and decorative freedom.)
Constance responds to this letter by clarifying her own demands, wanting to “know definitely that I shall be allowed to assume my proper position as your wife and have the control of the household managements and receive a sufficient allowance for that purpose… The points I mentioned in my last letter may seem “irrelevant topics” to you, but they are of the utmost importance to me.” She was upset at having been put “in the wrong” when all she wanted was, “some slight guarantee that I shall be better treated than before.”
Bringing the court into things likely very much escalated the situation, as both parties brought in lawyers to make an appearance. In the end, the judge dismissed the petition, on 30 January 1904, with each party being required to pay their own costs. To be clear, this was not a petition for divorce, but rather an unsuccessful petition to get the court to force Constance to return. Divorce came later, likely in the early 1920s, although those records are still sealed.12
Estrangement
Constance never returned to the Holland house. On the 1911 census she can be found living with her uncle’s family (her mother’s brother) at Yew Lodge in Kent. Her name is recorded as Constance Holland, while her marital status is listed as single.13
With his parents separated, Gerald William Leigh Holland would reportedly spend six months of each year with his mother and her family and the other six with his father. According to his family, “Constance called her son Leigh and spoiled him. Mr Holland called him Gerald and tried to instill discipline and order.”14
Bill, as he later became known, is listed on the 1911 census (at age seven) as a boarder at Broackhurst School Church in Church Stretton, Shropshire.15 When he turned sixteen, “he was allowed to choose where to permanently live. He chose his father’s home and never saw his mother again.”16
A Partner in the Business
William Heap Holland, meanwhile, lost his father in August 1906 (leaving an estate of £318,890 16s 3d),17 following which he became a partner in the family business with his uncle, William Henry.18 In his own entrepreneurial spirit, Heap Holland also became an early adopter of the automobile, and filed at least fourteen patents for improvements to motor cars including seating, windscreens, bodies, mud flaps, and exhaust.
A Windermere Connection
At some point, W. Heap Holland became friends with Windermere Valley local Robert Randolph Bruce, a friendship that resulted in 1910 with Holland visiting the valley in company with Bruce.19 This was not Holland’s first trip to Canada, as he also arrived as a first class tourist to Montréal the year before, in September 1909.20
In the Windermere Valley, however, Holland made a couple of land purchases. The exact dates of these are all but impossible to sort through with the sources I have available, but safe to say that Holland made some kind of purchase in Fairmont in 1910 (very likely of lots owned by the Galbraith family, coloured red on the map at the top of the page, including Lots 18, 46, 47, and 4084).
By 1912, he had expanded this Fairmont property to a reported 1,800 acres,21 including the previous Brewer Ranch (orange on the map, Lots 52, 138, 295), along with another lot on the opposite side of the river (Lot 5352, coloured pink), and likely also the old Geary Ranch (Lot 40, coloured yellow). This still only totals about 1500 acres, so there is likely at least one further lot still unaccounted for.
In addition to this Fairmont property, in about 1912 Holland also acquired the previous Hammond Ranch down by Windermere (Lots 1093, 2561, 2846, and Sub lot 33, coloured dark green on map above). It is from this more northerly property that we get the name Holland Creek. Part of this property had, before Herbert C. Hammond, been owned by John H Harris (Paddy Ryan) and Robert Jackson (Tenas Bob). In addition to the Hammond Ranch property, Holland acquired two further lots in Windermere sometime before 1926 (sub lots 157 and 158, coloured light green on above map).
The Holland Estate
Between the Fairmont Ranch and the Hammond Ranch, in the years immediately before the First World War there was a lot of work to be done on Holland properties in the valley. Holland reportedly put out the call for workers in England, and a large force was sent out in the spring of 1912.
A group of men brought over from England to work for W. Heap Holland at Fairmont, 1912: Ernest (Dapper) Ede, John Woodcroft, __ Onsworth, Ernie Denier, Henry Hunt, Sid Phillips, Henry (Harry) Bone, Charlie Onion, Edwin (Teddy) Keeling, Sid Brown. Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, A664.
In these prewar years the Holland Estates were managed by J.W. Crawford,22 who would remain in that position until his retirement in July 1921 (he returned to England). At that time the Estates consisted of two cattle ranches, together holding some 3,000 acres. Both properties now had large barns as well as bunk houses, corrals, outbuildings, cattle, horses and chickens.23
Crawford was replaced as manager by Major F.C. Turner, from Salt Spring Island, who remained until summer 1924.24 Turner was in turn replaced by Mr Reuban W. Bartman, who remained manager right up until the Fairmont property was sold in 1957.25
In addition to the business of ranching, Holland’s ownership of the hot springs property also put him in the position of handling a tourist business. This was slightly slower going. A visitor to the area in spring 1921 reports that the hot springs were, “as yet… not developed, though there is a rough shed there where a bath can be taken in the mineral springs.”26
It didn’t take long for Holland to begin to change this, however. After a personal visit to Fairmont in summer 1922,27 by spring 1923 Holland is reported to be, “completing a privately owned summer camp at his famous springs.”28 Read more about these developments and plenty more in this separate post about Fairmont.
Travels by the Hollands
On another visit to the area in 1923, William brought with him his son, then just over twenty years old.29 This was one of a number of father/son travels, on which Bill gained a life long love for fishing. The two also took a turn prospecting for minerals,30 and William Heap Holland became a partner in the Phoenix mineral group up Horsethief Creek.31 When William travelled separately to Canada, he consistently lists his nearest relative as his son when filling out immigration papers.32
William Heap Holland remarried in 1924 to Dorothea Thursfield, following which the couple came to Canada, “to visit my ranch.”33 The couple apparently visited the valley often, and “they were happy until the 1940s when Dorothea became ill and died in England.”34
Bill was also married, in 1933, to Joyce Selway Bright, who four years earlier had come over from England to run the guest cottages and restaurant at Fairmont.35 Bill travelled from England to Fairmont in summer 1933 to propose marriage.36
It’s unclear what Bill did for a living. On a 1939 national register in England, he is listed as “managing director and secretary,” but does not specify the company.37 There’s obviously a good chance that he worked with his father.
In 1947 Holland sold the 1,200 acre Hammond ranch, near Windermere, to Fritz Trachsel.38
Death and Influence
William Heap Holland passed away on 22 May 1952 at The Burlington Hotel in Eastbourne, England (on the Channel coast). At the time of his death his effects totalled an impressive £66,350 1s 6d.39 As this was soon following the Second World War, however, death and estate taxes were high, and delays in probate meant that many of the stocks and shares from Holland’s estate were held back through a stock market crash. As a result, the inheritance left to Bill was small, leading to his decision to sell the Fairmont property.40 That sale took place in 1957 to locals Charles Osterloh, Corbin Mitchell, and Earl and Lloyd Wilder.41
Gerald William Leigh Holland (Bill) passed away in 1971 in Geneva, Switzerland.42
William Heap Holland was apparently known locally, “as an eccentric,” while even wider afield in England, “He …strode down the streets of London Eng, wearing beadwork pants, jacket and gloves made of buckskin by the Ktunaxa women of Columbia Lake reserve.” In a description from his grandson, Geoffrey, he was ““Tall, sporting a moustache, accustomed to wielding power and ordering people around, he had a difficult personality and we children were moderately but suitably terrified of him.””43
In his later years, Geoffrey further recalls that, “He [William] became “allergic” to almost everything. In the anteroom to his suite were all sorts of cleansing agents to that ladies could scrub off rouge and powder and lipstick and mascara. Joyce used to be furious. She was certain he only did it because he liked to annoy women.”44
To see the man himself, there are a good collection of family photos in this article from the Columbia Valley Pioneer, written by Dorothy Isted. I encourage you to check them out.
See Also
Fairmont Hot Springs
Brewer Ranch
Geary Ranch
Paddy Ryan
Herbert C. Hammond
In The Windermere 