Nathaniel Holmes (judge)

Holmes began practicing law in St. Louis, Missouri in 1839.^[1] In 1846, John C. Edwards appointed him circuit attorney for St. Louis County, a position he held until 1847.^[4] From 1853 to 1855, he represented the St. Louis school board, and from 1862 to 1865, he represented the North Missouri Railroad Company.^[4]

In 1865, the Ousting Ordinance removed all judges in Missouri from office,^[5] and Thomas Clement Fletcher appointed Holmes to fill one of the newly-vacated seats on the state Supreme Court.^[4]

In 1867, the University of Missouri appointed him a Professor of Law; however, he did not teach any courses.^[3] In 1868, he resigned from the court, and returned to Harvard Law School, where he served as Royall Professor of Law. In 1872, he resigned from Harvard and returned to St. Louis, where he practiced law until 1883, at which point he retired and returned to Cambridge, where he died in 1901.^[1]

Holmes was an early proponent of the idea that Francis Bacon wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare, and in 1866 published a 600-page book, The Authorship of Shakespeare, in support of this.^[1][3]