Sunday, October 28, 2007

George Frederick Holliday 885-968

George had some difficulty to adapt himself to the climate in Brazil and for many years during the holidays (winter in Europe but hot summer in Brazil) he stayed alone in school in England . It seems that this happened very often.
We don't know exactly when did George decided to come back to Brazil. It seems that this only happened long after his college graduation, in the mid twenties.
George was a red hair, blue eyed and very tall man. He liked to play piano, and music seems to be one of his passions. There's an old Irish song, Mackushla, his daughter Thereza remembers he often used to listen in a record player.
He studied at Oxford University and graduated in Electrical Engineering by the City and Guilds of the London Institute, as shown in his college registers that still exist. There are reports about him working in the assembling of the Buenos Aires Telephone Company and even that, once, while in an expedition, he and friends got lost in the Andes, what shows his wish for adventure. In fact, hunting and fishing were indeed his hobbies.
In 1925 he married Esther Calmon , younger and last surviving daughter of Joao Philipe Calmon, a prosperous farmer from Espirito Santo and head of one of the most powerfil families of the region.
In 1926 George and Esther lost an unborn child, but in 1927 was born their first son Patrick, followed by Thereza Amelia in 1929. Thereza was to be named Elizabeth as her grandmother, but shortly after she was born, some kind of complication made her eyes to close. Her father made a promised to Sta. Terezinha , naming the little girl in her honor, after she got well.
George didn't get along very well with the Brazilian way of life . His strict education made him a severe person. He had only a few friends, during his life in Brazil and he kept no relations in England.
The family lived for many years in Botafogo at Rua Capistrano de Abreu, 42, and in 1948 they moved to Copacabana, at Rua Domingues Ferreira 188. George was diabetic and for a man his stature, aging became a very painful process. He was 6'3" 1/2 high (1,90m).
In 1957 he had a heart attack of minor consequences. In his late years, blindness caused by glaucoma as a consequence of diabetes increased his loneliness and soon, he also became deaf. George Frederick died in 1968, after a major stroke while sleeping. He was 83 years old . Esther Augusta
died in 1975, at 84, after a short illness.




George Frederick Holliday in School,17-British Census of 1901

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