The writing of "The Tour of the Don" by John Holland

The following extract is taken from the "Life of John Holland of Sheffield Park : from numerous letters and other documents furnished by his nephew and executor, John Holland Brammall" by William Hudson (available on Internet Archive).  It describes the writing of "The Tour" and gives insights into the character of its author.

"Tour of the Don" by John Holland, 1837

"The Tour of the Don" was published weekly through 1836 as a series of articles in the Sheffield Mercury newspaper.  They were brought together as two volumes and re-published in 1837 with the subtitle "A series of extempore sketches made during a pedestrian ramble along the banks of that river, and its principal tributaries".

Hail Storm - Sheffield - 5th July 1843

This post describes the Hail Storm on the 5th July 1843 which did a great deal of damage in Shefield and surrounding areas, including breaking 5700 panes of glass in the Botanical Garden greenhouses.

It is rather a long piece of text from the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent for 8th July 1843, which I have included in its entirety, plus some follow-up articles from the same newspaper, and an account of a further storm in August of the same year.

The Great Snow Of 1614-15 - from Youlgreave Parish Register

The following notes are extracted from Notes and Queries, 4th Series, Vol 3, No 53, Jan 2, 1869 - p16. (cleaned up from OCR text from Google Books).  They were included, with many other historic weather references, in a recent book which I co-authered entitled "Sheffield's Weather" - available from the Sorby Natural History Society.  What follows adds a bit of context to the extract.

"The Vital Statistics of Sheffield" by G.Calvert Holland, 1843

The volume of "Vital Statistics" was produced at the suggestion  of The Town Trustees of Sheffield, who also paid for some of the work.  The work was undertaken by Dr Calvert Holland who is described as "Physician Extraordinary to the Sheffield General Infirmary".

Fish around Sheffield in 1843

Extract from "The Vital Statistics of Sheffield" by G.Calvert Holland, Esq., M.D. 1843

Animals around Sheffield in 1843

Extract from "The Vital Statistics of Sheffield" by G.Calvert Holland, Esq., M.D. 1843

Birds around Sheffield in 1843

Extract from "The Vital Statistics of Sheffield" by G.Calvert Holland, Esq., M.D. 1843

Flora around Sheffield in 1843

Extract from Chapter 1 of "The Vital Statistics of Sheffield" by G.Calvert Holland, Esq., M.D. 1843.