Built, it is believed, until the late 1920s, Homes lathes were manufactured by S. Holmes & Co. a Bradford company also involved in making a wide range of universal and twist-drill grinders. Post Great War )1914--1918) advertisements placed during the early 1920s made a claim that  "over 18,00 lathes. What a gigantic number! " had been made before 1914 with many, during the ensuing war, being fitted to ships or used for more delicate tasks on range finder and surgical instrument parts. Holmes' offerings in the smaller backgeared and screwcutting range included a lightly-constructed,  3.5" x 20" gap bed machine of utterly conventional design with a hollow spindle running in adjustable tapered bronze bearings. Although produced into the 1920s the machine dated back to 1897, and possibly earlier, with the company claiming: "It is in every corner of the Globe. It has stood the world's markets for 25 years." Its design era may be judged from the pictures below where the tailstock is retained by a ball-ended handle beneath the bed (a feature continued on precision bench lathes for many years after 1900, but on few ordinary ones) - the use of square-headed bolts and a very simple leadscrew clasp nut that was engaged through the push/pull action of a coarse-threaded bolt. Another long-advertised Holmes lathe was the 3" x 18" plain-turning "Junior", another simple model that first saw the light of day in the closing years of the previous century.
Unlike many makers, who seemed either remarkably sensitive about revealing their identity - or failed to realise the opportunity for providing spares and accessories - Holmes actually labelled the lathes as their own with a neat, screw-on badge.
If you have a Holmes, the writer would be interested to hear from you.