Britain Holmes was one of the early members of the Buffalo Board of Park Commissioners appointed when the law originally establishing the Board was amended in 1872, expanding it from 12 members to 15, and lengthening the members’ term of service from 5 years to 6. He served on the board from 1872 to 1878, and then again from 1880 to 1898. He was one of the board’s longest serving individuals with his 24 total years of unpaid community service.
Britain Holmes was born in Madrid, in St. Lawrence county, New York on 13 March 1823, the youngest of three brothers and one sister. He came to Buffalo in 1855. There he joined with his elder brothers, Edward and James, in operating a very large lumber firm, E. & B. Holmes. Edward began the firm in Lancaster in 1840, and relocated it to Buffalo in 1852. It was in business for over 50 years. In 1856, Edward and Britain added to their enterprises by entering the production of barrel making and woodworking machinery on Chicago street, as E. & B. Holmes Manufacturing Co., earning considerable renown for their products. The brothers also operated a third business, the Central Manufacturing Co. of Buffalo, which produced caskets and undertakers’ supplies. In 1895, the E. & B. Holmes Manufacturing Co. was incorporated as the E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co., Inc.; Holmes family members continued the company until 1950, when it was sold to two long time employees in 1950. The business continued in operation location until 2002.
In 1861, Briton Holmes married Eleanor Childs of Brooklyn. She passed away in 1897, the couple having been married for 36 years. They had no children.
Mr. Holmes was a member of the Buffalo Board of Trade, and was a long time member of the board of trustees of Central Presbyterian Church, and was at the time of his death president of that board.
Britain Holmes died in Buffalo on 21 January 1905, at age 82. He had broken his hip in a bad fall on icy pavement while he was traveling in Philadelphia about a week previous, and his health deteriorated rapidly thereafter. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
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