Nat Gould

Nathaniel Hollis

Nathaniel Hollis was born in about 1663, the second son of Thomas Hollis 1634-1718 and his wife née Mary Whiting.

In 1704 he married Frances Masterton at All Hallows Church, London Wall. They lived in Deptford and later in Peckham, both now in London but then in Kent and Surrey respectively.

Like his father and elder brother, John Hollis was a Citizen of London through the Drapers' Company. He was apprenticed to his father in that London livery Company on 2 May 1678, but was not made free of the Company (1).

Unlike his father and two brothers, he did not apply himself to the family business, and “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". He was adopted by his uncle Thomas Hollis and brought into the family firm, much against the wishes of his other uncle John Hollis (2).

He was however a benefactor of Harvard College in Massachusetts (3).

He died in 1738, having made his Will on 10 July 1735. In his Will he directed that his body was to be buried at Bunhill Fields in London, and that not more than £40 was to be spent on his funeral. He bequeathed his property at Guildford in Surrey to his grandson Thomas Hollis, and that in Deptford to his wife Frances Hollis for life and then to his grandson Thomas Hollis. Reference was made to a Trust in the hands of John Reynolds and William Ladds, and another in the hands of Josiah Maker or Maber of London. Bequests of £10 each were made to his brother John Hollis and his wife, and John Hamersley of Deptford, shipwright. Bequests were also made to relatives including William Creswick of St Albans cutler, Elizabeth Creswick, John Edwards, and nephews Isaac Hollis and Timothy Hollis (4).

(1) Boyd's Inhabitants of London.
(2) The Gentleman's Magazine volume 74 part 2 page 1098. Communicated by John Hollis 1742-1824, grandson of John Hollis 1666-1735.
(3) The Harvard Graduates' Magazine W.R. Thayer et al. volume 3 (1894-95) page 345.
(4) 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) pages 60-61.