Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hollond, John
HOLLOND or HOLLAND, JOHN (fl. 1638–1659), naval writer, entered the king's service about 1624 (Discourses, p. 3) as clerk to Captain Joshua Downing, who resided at Chatham as assistant to the commissioners of the navy (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1625-6 p. 480, 1627-8 p. 185, 1628-9 p. 454; Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. i. 370). Hollond succeeded Kenrick Edisbury as paymaster of the navy before 1635 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1635, p. 2). In October 1636 the Earl of Northumberland, admiral of the shipmoney fleet, accused Hollond in a statement of abuses in the navy (Hollond, Discourses, appendix) of benefiting by corrupt commissions. Hollond pleaded prescription 'of thirty years past' (ib. pp. 394, 398). The special practice was prohibited by an order in council dated 16 March 1636-7 (ib. p. 404), but the paymaster was not otherwise censured. He was still occupying his post when the 'First Discourse of the Navy' was written, in 1638 (p. 66), and it is quite possible that he retained it until the outbreak of the civil war, notwithstanding the fact that he was selling timber and plank to the government for the use of the navy in September 1639 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1639, p. 525).
When the control of the navy passed to the parliament the functions of the principal officers other than the treasurer were transferred to a body of three commissioners appointed by an ordinance of 15 Sept. 1642, to serve at a salary of 200/. a year each (Commons' Journals, iv. 390). To these Hollond was soon afterwards added. He continued to act in this capacity until 1645 or 1646, when he resigned and reverted temporarily to the timber trade (Discourses, p. 312). By an act of 16 Jan. 1648-9 Hollond was made a member of a 'committee of merchants for the regulation of the navy and customs,' by purging the administration of royalists, untrustworthy officials, and ' unuseful places' (Scobell, ii. 1). Afterwards, by the good offices of the 'committee of merchants,' he was promoted to be surveyor of the navy in succession to Sir William Batten [q. v.] (Discourses, p. 121). His salary of 300l. a year dates from 16 Feb. 1648-9 (Pipe Office Declared Accounts, Roll 2287).
Hollond soon fell out with the 'committee of merchants' (cf. Second Discourse, pp. 120-4). As a member of the parliament's new commission of the navy he set his face vigorously against corruption in appointments and contracts, and drew on himself much unpopularity (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649-53, passim; cf. Pepysian Miscellanies, iii. 382). On 29 Dec. 1652 he was discharged from his place as commissioner (Commons' Journals, vii. 237; Discourses, p. 296; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1652-3, p. 8).
Holding thenceforth no post in the navy, he gave up his official residence at Tower Hill (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1653-4, p. 216), and settled at Deptford, where he engaged once more in the timber trade (ib. 1652-3 p. 618, 1656-7 p. 479). After the Restoration Pepys noticed him as the author of a project for restoring depreciated seamen's tickets to their full value (Diary, 30 Nov. 1660). He was at that time secretary to Sir George Carteret, treasurer of the navy (ib. Wheatley's note). His connection with Deptford was maintained in his later life. In August 1666 his daughter Mabel died there of the plague, and in December 1670 another daughter, Mary, was buried there. His widow was also buried there on 28 Feb. 1691-2. The registers give no reference to his own death.
Hollond's 'First Discourse of the Navy,' dated 1638, treats of the administration of the navy by the principal officers under the three heads wages, victuals, and stores, and exposes various abuses connected with each. The 'Second Discourse of the Navy,' dated 1659, appears from internal evidence to have been written under the Protectorate, perhaps as early as 1656 or 1657, and to have been revised in 1659. The dedication to James, duke of York, is dated 1661, and it is not unlikely that the 'Discourse' was used as a bid for office under the restored monarchy. The 'Second Discourse' deals with the same subjects as the 'First,' but the treatment is much fuller, and the abuses exposed are for the most part different. There is also a remarkable improvement in the writer's literary style. Samuel Pepys, in the 'Diary' (25 July 1662 and 19 March 1669), speaks of the 'Discourses' in the highest terms. Sir William Penn described the 'First Discourse' as 'writ by an able hand . . . and most fit to be read, and in the most material parts to be the measure of those that would perfect themselves in naval affairs' (Sloane MS. 3232).
Hollond's 'First and Second Discourses,' with Sir Robert Slyngesbie's 'Discourse of the Navy ' appended, have been printed in vol. vii. of the publications of the Navy Records Society from manuscripts in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. An account of the other accessible manuscripts is given in the introduction to that volume. Hollond's paper of 9 Aug. 1652, against 'permitting the master shipwright to keep a private yard,' is to be found among the state papers (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1651-2, p. 362), and there is also a copy among the Pepysian MSS. (Miscellanies, iii. 382).
[Hollond's Discourses of the Navy, ed. J. E. Tanner for the Navy Records Society, 1896, vol. vii.]