Samuel Reynolds Hole (5 December 1819[1] – 27 August 1904[2]) was an English Anglican priest,[3] author[4] and horticulturalist[5] in the late 19th century and the early part of the 20th.[6][7]
Hole was born at Ardwick near Manchester the only son of Samuel Hole of Caunton Manor and his wife, Mary Cooke of Macclesfield.[8]
He was raised in Newark and educated at Mrs Gilbey's Preparatory School and Newark Grammar School there. After a period of foreign travel he studied theology at Brasenose College, Oxford.[9] He was ordained in 1844[10] and spent 43 years at his father's parish of St. Andrew's Church, Caunton,[11][12] firstly as curate and from 1850 as its vicar.[13] A prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral and an honorary chaplain to Edward Benson, the then Archbishop of Canterbury,[14] he became Dean of Rochester in 1887.[15] Noted for his expertise with roses[16][17] and an inaugural recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour.
There are two memorials to Hole at Rochester Cathedral.[18][19] The most impressive is a recumbent marble life-size figure by F. W. Pomeroy.
Hole is further remembered on the number 3 bell at Rochester: "In remembrance of S. Reynolds Hole, Dean. Died 27th August - 1904".[20]
In 1861 he married Caroline Francklin, daughter of John Francklin of Gonalston and Great Barford.
They had one son, Samuel Hugh Francklin Hole (b.1862) who became a barrister.[citation needed]
