Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hollis, Aiskew Paffard
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.]