Thomas Hollis III by Giovanni Battista Cipriani

Thomas Hollis (1659 – January 21, 1731)Hollis died in January 1730 by the

Old Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries betwe ...

calendar in use at the time, but in 1731 by

New Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various Europe, European countrie ...

(modern) dating. was a wealthy English merchant and a benefactor of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Benefactions

As a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

and a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, Hollis required his donations to be used for directed purposes. For example, in 1721, he established the

Hollis Chair of Divinity The Hollis Chair of Divinity is an endowed chair at Harvard Divinity School. It was established in 1721 at a salary of £80 per year by Thomas Hollis, a wealthy English merchant and benefactor of the university. It is the oldest endowed chair in ...

at Harvard, with a salary of £80 per year, with the stipulation that Baptists be included for consideration. This broadening constituted a form of dissent from strict adherence to the orthodoxy of the day, where New England's reform Protestantism was being buffeted by ripples and uncertainties generated by the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

of 1688/9. In 1726, he also endowed the

Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy The Hollis Chair of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy is an endowed professorship established at Harvard College in 1727 by Thomas Hollis. The chair, now part of the Physics Department, is the second oldest at Harvard, and the oldest professors ...

with the same amount. Hollis also convinced his younger brothers, John and Nathaniel, to contribute substantially to Harvard and thus helped establish a legacy of civil and religious liberty across the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

decades before the American Revolution.

Legacy

The town of

Holliston, Massachusetts Holliston is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. The population was 14,996 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in MetroWest, a Massachusetts region that is west ...

, is named for him; as is HOLLIS, the Harvard On-Line Library Information System.

Notes

References

External links

Harvard On-Line Library Information System (HOLLIS)
1659 births 1731 deaths Harvard University people Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy Date of birth unknown Holliston, Massachusetts 17th-century English merchants 18th-century English merchants {{England-bio-stub

Benefactions

Legacy

Notes

References

Further reading

External links