Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol II (1901).djvu/449

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Holloway
437
Holloway


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.]

HOLLOWAY, Sir CHARLES (1749–1827), major-general royal engineers, was born on 17 April 1749. On attaining the age of fifteen he entered the drawing room of the board of ordnance at the Tower of London (7 Feb. 1764), and in 1772 went to Portsmouth to assist the commanding royal engineer with the plans of the new fortifications. On 16 Jan. 1776 he received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal engineers. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant, 1 Jan. 1783; captain lieutenant, 16 Jan. 1793; captain, 31 Dec. 1795; brevet major, 1 Jan. 1801; lieutenant-colonel, 20 July 1804; colonel, 1 May 1811; major-general, 4 June 1814.

In 1777 Holloway went to Gibraltar, arriving there on 17 Sept. During the first part of the celebrated siege of Gibraltar, which began in the summer of 1779, he was staff officer to the chief engineer, Colonel (afterwards General Sir) William Green [q. v.], as well as adjutant of the engineers and of the artificer company. On 17 April 1781 he was made brigade major, and when Green became a major-general he was appointed his aide-de-camp on 13 Oct. 1782. On 4 Jan. 1783 he was severely wounded by the splinter of a shell from the enemy's mortar boats. During the siege he was indefatigable in his exertions and kept a diary of his doings, which fills three folio volumes, and is in the possession of the family. Before his return to England on 7 June 1783 the governor, Sir George Augustus Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield [q. v.], thanked him on parade in the presence of the garrison for his services during the siege. He figured in the picture of the principal officers serving in the siege which was painted by Copley for the city of London.

On 1 Oct. 1784 he joined Major-general William Roy [q. v.], and for three years assisted him in his survey triangulations from the Hounslow base to the Kentish coast, and in connecting the English with the French system of triangulation in 1787. For the next ten years he was employed in the ordinary duties of his corps in the Eastern, Thames, and Woolwich military districts, and was also particularly engaged in strengthening the Tower of London in 1792.

In October 1798 Holloway was selected to be commanding royal engineer and second in command with the local rank of major of a military mission under Brigadier-general George Frederic Koehler [q. v.] to assist the Turks in the reorganisation of their army. He left London with the mission on 3 Dec. and on the 24th was shipwrecked among the ice at the mouth of the Elbe. The mission was rescued and travelled across the continent to Constantinople, where it arrived on 28 March 1799. In June, in conjunction with Major Robert Hope of the royal artillery, Holloway reported upon the fortifications of the Dardanelles and the defence works necessary for the better security of that passage, and of Tenedos and the gulf of Saros. The report was approved and the works were commenced.

On 2 July 1800 the British mission joined the Ottoman army in Syria under the grand vizier. It was encamped at Jaffa after retiring from Egypt, and, at the grand vizier's request, Holloway entrenched the camp and designed additional defences for Jaffa, which were at once put in hand. A virulent attack of plague towards the end of the year caused great mortality, and carried oft Koehler on 29 Dec. The command of the mission then devolved upon Holloway, who received the local rank of lieutenant-colonel from 1 Jan. 1801, when he also obtained his brevet majority. Early in the following month, the plague having ceased, the Turkish army advanced and, after crossing the desert, came in contact with a superior French force under General Belliard in May. Although nominally the Turkish army was commanded by the grand vizier, Holloway practically commanded it, both in the advance from Jaffa and at the battle of El Hanka on 16 May. The fight lasted for seven hours, when the French were defeated and fell back. On 12 July Holloway entered Cairo with the mission, which remained there until 18 Feb. 1802. The mission returned home in charge of Major (afterwards Sir) Richard Fletcher [q. v.], royal engineers, and Holloway went