''Note : dates are given using the
New Style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
calendar.''
![HallidayArms BordurePlain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/HallidayArms_BordurePlain.svg)
William Holliday (''aliter'' "Hollidaie", "Halliday", etc) (c. 1565 – February 14, 1624) was a wealthy
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
merchant and chairman of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
.
Origins
He was apparently born in Gloucestershire. It is not clear who his parents were: Burke's ''Commoners'' makes him out to be the son of Lawrence and Jane Pury of Gloucester,
[Burke, J. (1836). ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'' Vol II] but the children listed in Lawrence's will (1587) and the brother and sister named in William's will (1623) do not have the same names, so they appear to be different families. Nevertheless, according to William's will, he was a cousin of
Sir Leonard Holliday, who was later
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
.
Career
William was later sent to London, probably in the 1580s, where he served an apprenticeship in the
Worshipful Company of Mercers
The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...
, which controlled the city's textile industry. In 1594 he took part in the
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland.
History
The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedo ...
's expedition to the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
which involved
the sinking of the great Portuguese carrack the ''Cinco Chagas''. William evidently had a successful career as a mercer. He was also involved in the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, of which his cousin Sir Leonard had been a founder, and was elected as a 'committee', i.e. director, in 1616. In 1617 he served as Master of the Mercers Company and was elected a sheriff for the year
.
[Holladay, A.> (1983). ''The Holladay Family''] In February 1618, he was elected an alderman of the City.
[Cokayne, G.E. (1897). ''Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of London 1601-1625''] William's stature and success were reflected in the arranged marriages of his two daughters. In April 1619, after "long and earnest solicitation" by the
Marquess (later Duke) of Buckingham, who was acting on instructions from King James,
[William Holliday's Last Will and Testament] he married off Anne to Sir
Henry Mildmay
Sir Henry Mildmay (ca. 1593–1668) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1659. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War and was one of the Regicides of Charles I of ...
. In 1621, William was elected governor of the East India Company, a position he held for the remaining three years of his life.
Marriage and children
![Margaret Hungerford (1596-1648) by Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Margaret_Hungerford_%281596-1648%29_by_Cornelis_Jonson_van_Ceulen.jpg)
In about 1600 he married Susan Rowe (d.1646), a daughter of Henry Rowe, a prominent member of the
Worshipful Company of Ironmongers
The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is one of the Great Twelve livery companies of the City of London, incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463.
History
The Ironmongers, who were originally known as the Ferroners, were incorporated unde ...
and later
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
, whose father Sir Thomas Rowe had also been Lord Mayor. She survived William and remarried (as his second wife)
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick (5 June 158719 April 1658), Lord of the Manor of Hunningham,Hunningham, in A History of the County of Warwick: Vol. 6, Knightlow Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1951), pp. 117–120. was an English colonial adm ...
(1587-1658).
[Smith, C.F. (1901). ''Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick''] By Susan Rowe he had two daughters:
*Anne Holliday (born in 1602), wife of Sir
Henry Mildmay
Sir Henry Mildmay (ca. 1593–1668) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1659. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War and was one of the Regicides of Charles I of ...
of
Wanstead
Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge, London, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is ...
, Essex,
Master of the Jewel Office
The Master of the Jewel Office was a position in the Royal Households of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The office holder was responsible for running the Jewel House
The Jewel House is a vault housing the British ...
from 1620 to 1649.
*Margaret Holliday (born ''circa'' 1603), younger daughter, who in February 1620 married Sir
Edward Hungerford (1596–1648) of
Farleigh Hungerford Castle
Farleigh Hungerford Castle, sometimes called Farleigh Castle or Farley Castle, is a medieval castle in Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England. The castle was built in two phases: the inner court was constructed between 1377 and 1383 by Sir T ...
, Wiltshire, in the chapel of which survives the couple's magnificent
chest tomb
Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...
with effigies.
Death and burial
William died on 14 February 1624 and was buried in or near
St Lawrence Jewry
St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall is a Church of England guild church in the City of London on Gresham Street, next to Guildhall. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is the ...
church. He left a substantial estate: around £40 000 in cash, and properties in London, Middlesex, and Gloucestershire.
Many years later, their daughter Margaret Hungerford erected a monument to William, Susanna, and her sister Anne, in St Lawrence Jewry church. It was irreparably damaged during an air raid in 1940.
[Pope-Hennessy, J. (1941) ''History Under Fire'']
Coat of arms
Shortly before his death in 1624, William obtained a grant of arms from the
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
. The arms were: ''Sable, three helmets argent a bordure of the last'', i.e. a black shield displaying three silver helmets all within a silver border. The crest was ''a demi-lion guardant holding an anchor''. This crest serves as the footrest of the effigy of Margaret Hungerford at Farleigh Castle. These arms bear close resemblance to those granted in 1605 to his cousin Sir
Leonard Holliday
:''Note: dates are given using the New Style calendar.''
Sir Leonard Holliday (also spelled Hollyday and Halliday) (c. 1550 – 9 January 1612) was a founder of the East India Company, and a Lord Mayor of London.
Life
He was born, perhaps ci ...
,
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
in 1605: ''Sable, three close helmets argent garnished or within a bordure engrailed of the second'' (
Guillim, Display of Heraldry
),
the differences being in the garnishing of the helmets, the form and tincture of the bordure and (for the crest) the direction in which the lion faces.
[Edmondson, J. (1780) ''A Complete Body of Heraldry''; Burke, Sir B. (1884) ''The General Armory'.] The pedigree in the 1663
Heraldic Visitation
Heraldic visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms (or alternatively by heralds, or junior officers of arms, acting as their deputies) throughout England, Wales and Ireland. Their purpose was to register and regulate the ...
of Middlesex, of "Holliday of Bromley", starting with Sir Leonard Holliday, makes no mention of William Holliday.
References
External links
Halliday Heraldry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holliday, William
1560s births
1624 deaths
Directors of the British East India Company
16th-century English people
17th-century English businesspeople