HOLLIS, AISKEW PAFFARD (1764–1844), vice-admiral, entered the navy in 1774, and in 1778 was present on board the Vigilant in Keppel's action off Ushant. In January 1781 he was promoted to be lieutenant, and, continuing in active service during the peace, was appointed in July 1793 to the Queen, bearing the flag of Rear-admiral Gardner. In her he took part in the battle of 1 June 1794, where he was seriously wounded, and the encounter off L'Orient on 23 July 1795. In November 1796 he was promoted to the command of the Chichester, a 44-gun ship, employed as a storeship. On 10 Nov. 1797, being at the Cape of Good Hope, he was ordered to take temporary command of the Jupiter and bring in the Crescent frigate, then in a state of mutiny at Robin Island. This delicate service was well and happily performed, and the Crescent towed into Table Bay, under the batteries. Six days afterwards he was given an acting commission as captain of the flagship Tremendous, from which he was shortly moved to the Vindictive frigate, and sent home in charge of an East Indian convoy. On his arrival his commission was confirmed by the admiralty. In June 1801 he was appointed to the Thames frigate, and commanded her in the action in the Gut of Gibraltar on 12 July [see Saumarez, James, Lord de Saumarez], and in the operations on the coast of Egypt. The Thames was paid off in January 1803, and in the following autumn Hollis was appointed to the Mermaid, in which he served in the West Indies under the flag of Sir John Duckworth. He returned to England in 1807, and in March 1809 joined the Standard of 64 guns, forming one of the fleet up the Baltic under Sir James Saumarez, and in which he was detached in command of the squadron which in May occupied the Isle of Anholt (James, Nav. Hist. edit. 1860, iv. 431). Early in 1811 the Standard went out to Lisbon in charge of a large convoy, and for a short time assisted in the defence of Cadiz. In April Hollis was moved into the Achilles of 80 guns, attached to the fleet before Toulon, and later on employed in the Adriatic, returning to England in the summer of 1813. After the peace Hollis commanded the Rivoli (1816–17) and the Ramillies (1818–21) as guardships at Portsmouth. He had no further service, though he became in due course of seniority rear-admiral in 1825 and vice-admiral in 1837. He died at Southampton on 23 June 1844.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. iii. (vol. ii.) 115; Gent. Mag. 1844, vol. cxxiv. pt. ii. p. 428.]
HOLLIS, GEORGE (1793–1842), engraver, born at Oxford in 1793, was a pupil of George Cooke [q. v.], the engraver. He engraved in a similar style to his master, and was mainly employed on topographical works, such as Sir R. C. Hoare's ‘History of Wiltshire,’ Ormerod's ‘History of Cheshire,’ &c. He also engraved views of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, some from his own drawings. In 1818 he published six views of Chudleigh from drawings by Henry Francis de Cort [q. v.] Hollis engraved a large plate of ‘St. Mark's Place at Venice,’ after J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and other Italian views after Turner for Hakewill's ‘Tour in Italy,’ and other works. In 1839 he commenced a work on ‘Sepulchral Effigies,’ the first part of which appeared in 1840, but he died before its completion at Walworth, on 2 Jan. 1842.
Hollis, Thomas (1818–1843), only son of the above, born in 1818, became a student of the Royal Academy in 1839, and a pupil of H. W. Pickersgill, R.A. He assisted his father in drawing and etching the plates for his ‘Sepulchral Effigies,’ but died of consumption on 4 Oct. 1843, aged 25.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 1842 i. 333, 1844, i. 101; Ottley's Dict. of Painters and Engravers.]
HOLLIS, THOMAS (1720–1774), ‘republican,’ the only son of another Thomas Hollis, and great-grandson of a third Thomas Hollis, whitesmith, of Rotherham, and owner of Pinners Hall, was born in London, 14 April 1720. In childhood he lived in the house of his maternal grandfather, Mr. Scott, of Wolverhampton, and was sent to school at Newport, Shropshire, and afterwards at St. Albans. In 1732 he spent about a year at Amsterdam, with the object of learning Dutch and French for commercial purposes. Returning to England he lived for some time with his father, who died in 1735. As he inherited both his father's property and that of his great uncle, Thomas Hollis, the benefactor of Harvard College, it was thought unsuitable to train him to mercantile pursuits, and accordingly he studied under Dr. John Ward [q. v.] In 1740 he entered at Lincoln's Inn, where he lived in chambers till 1748. He then went abroad and travelled in the Low Countries, Switzerland, the north of Italy, and France. In 1750 he set out on a second tour, visiting Holland, Germany, Austria, and Italy, and remained on the continent three or four years. He had been from childhood strongly opposed to tory principles, and declined to enter parliament if it were
