William S. Holdsworth

Sir William Searle Holdsworth OM KC FBA (7 May 1871 – 2 January 1944) was an English legal historian and Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford University, amongst whose works is the 17-volume History of English Law.

Holdsworth was born in Beckenham, Kent in 1871, the son of a well-known London solicitor, Charles Joseph Holdsworth and his wife Ellen Caroline (née Searle).^[1] He was educated at Dulwich College and in 1890 went on to win a History Exhibition from Dulwich College to New College, Oxford.^[2] He took first-class honours both in History and in Law,^[3] and second class honours in the BCL.^[4] He was called to the bar at Lincoln''s Inn in 1896.