Frescheville Holles

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Sir Frescheville Holles (8 June 1642 – 28 May 1672) was an English Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1666 to 1672. He was killed in action fighting in the Anglo-Dutch war.

Sir Frescheville Holles and Sir Robert Holmes

Holles was the son of Gervase Holles and his second wife Elizabeth Molesworth.[1] Gervase Holles had been Mayor and MP for Grimsby.

Frescheville Holles was a major in the Westminster militia and commanded a privateer called the Panther. He was recommended for the navy by George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle.[1] and lost an arm at the Four Days Battle in 1666 while commanding HMS Antelope.[2] He was knighted the same year.[1]

In 1667, Holles was elected Member of Parliament for Grimsby in the Cavalier Parliament.[3] In 1667 he was also made a captain in the 2nd Foot Guards but lost his command in 1669, becoming Mayor of Grimsby that year instead in the footsteps of his father. In January, 1672 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. [4]

In March 1672, he and Sir Robert Holmes sailed from Portsmouth and attacked the Dutch Smyrna convoy in the English Channel on its return home. This foray had official sanction and led to the Third Dutch War. Holles was in command of HMS Cambridge at the Battle of Solebay on 28 May 1672[2] when he was killed at the age of 29. He was given a funeral in Westminster Abbey and was buried in St Edmund's chapel in an unmarked grave.[1]

Holles had married widow Jane Crome (née Lewis).[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e Westminster Abbey - Holles Family
  2. ^ a b National Maritime Museum
  3. ^ "HOLLES, Sir Frescheville (1642-72), of Long Acre, Westminster and Carleton, Notts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Fellows details". Royal Society. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
1667 – 1673
With: Gervase Holles 		Succeeded by
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