Nat Gould

John Hollis 1666-1735

John Hollis was born in 1666, the youngest son of Thomas Hollis and his wife nee Mary Whiting. The family were Baptists, living in the dissenting enclave of the Minories in London, running a cutlery and hardware business established by his grandfather John Ramsker, a Sheffield cutler.

John Hollis married Hannah Sandford 1667-1740 at St Mary Magdalen church, Bermondsey on 5 January 1687/1688. She was the daughter of Edward and Ann Sandford. They had the following children:

Isaac Hollis. He was born in 1701 and died in 1774. He married Susan Jones.

Samuel Hollis.

Jacob Hollis.

Timothy Hollis. He was born in 1709, and died on 14 December 1791 aged 82.

Mary Hollis. On 23 October 1712 she was married to Edward Winnock of Bread Street in the London parish of All Hallows. He died on 10 March 1737. They had five children.

Hannah Hollis. She was married to Samuel Edwards in 1714. They had a son Hollis Edwards.

Anne Hollis. In 1717 she was married to Richard Solly 1694-1729. They had eight children (2).

Elizabeth Hollis. She was married to William Ashurst in 1723.

Their father John Hollis was the junior partner of the firm of Thomas & John Hollis, wholesale cutlers that had been established by his father Thomas Hollis 1634-1718.

“Tho. H. the elder settled in the Minories, and established a trade in what is called hard ware, which trade, under his sons Thomas and John, became very profitable. He had another son, whose name was Nathanael, and who, having dissipated his fortune by his extravagance, became unable to make much provision for a son of his, who likewise bore the name of Thomas. His uncle, of the same name, being childless, adopted him ; but, not content to do thus much, very imperiously forced him into the trade, much against the inclination of John Hollis, who was the active partner, and, in the words of my informant, “the soul of the business.” Mr. John Hollis objected to the young man, as an obstinate and awkward person, more likely to be troublesome than of any use ; which, indeed, proved to be the case. Mr. J. Hollis had a family of eight children. This accounts not only for his submission to his elder brother (for it seems he did not expect his brother would give his whole property to his favourite) ; but it accounts also for J. Hollis’s superior exertion, and consequent skill and ability (3)".

Like his father and elder brother, John Hollis was a Citizen of London through been made free of the Drapers' Company on 16 December 1706. He was made Warden of the Company in 1732 (4).

John Hollis died in 1735. He had made his Will on 21 March 1733, and added a Codicil on 12 December 1735 just before he died. Probate was granted on 13 January 1736 to his wife Hannah Hollis, sole executrix.

In his Will, he bequeathed the property he had inherited from his late father-in-law Edward Sandford in Boreham and Hatfield Peverell (Essex) and Bermondsey (London), after the death of his mother-in-law, to his wife Hannah for life, and then successively to their son Isaac Hollis and his heirs, Timothy Hollis and his heirs, and failing that to his grandson Hollis Edwards (son of his daughter Mary); his London houses in Old Street in the parish of St Giles without Cripplegate and in Petticoat Lane in the parish of St Botolph without Aldgate to his son Isaac Hollis ; and made bequests to the five sons of his daughter Ann Solly, the children of his daughter Hannah Edwards, the children of his daughter Elizabeth Ashurst, his cousins Hannah Hutton, Ann Loyd, Elizabeth Williams, and Robert Ruslin. His son Timothy Hollis was appointed his sucessor as Trustee of the Robert Thorner benefaction in place of the late Bennet Swaine. Legacies were also left to the French Church in Threadneedle Street in London, and to the London parishes of Whitechapel and Trinity Minories, and to the parishes of Sheffield, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Walsall, and to the Scotch Society at Edinburgh for the Propagation of the Gospel (5).

(1) A Contribution to the History, Biography and Genealogy of the Families named Sole, Solly, Soile, Sowle, Soulis : with other Forms of Spelling G.T. Ridlon volume 1 (1926) page 95.
(2) Will of John Hollis 21 March 1733.
(3) The Gentleman's Magazine volume 74 part 2 page 1098. Communicated by John Hollis 1742-1824, grandson of John Hollis.
(4) Boyd's Inhabitants of London.
(5) An abstract of the Will and its main provisions is given in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register : Genealogical Gleanings in England H F Waters volume 45 (1891) page 60.