John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare (May 1564 – 4 October 1637) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Denzil Holles of Irby upon Humber and Eleanor Sheffield (daughter of Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield of Butterwick). His great-grandfather was William Hollyes,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

. He was born at Haughton Hall, Nottinghamshire and educated at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

from 1579, aged 12, after which he studied law at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

from 1583. He was at Court until 1599. Holles married Anne Stanhope (daughter of Sir Thomas Stanhope) on 23 May 1591 in Shelford, Nottinghamshire. Through his marriage to Anne, he inherited Thurland Hall in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

which was later known as Clare Place. The family seat was at Haughton Hall in the parish of Bothamsall, which was demolished in the late eighteenth century. He served as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1591–92. He was comptroller of the household of Prince Henry until the prince's death on 6 November 1612. He was Member of Parliament for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

from 1604 to 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. He was created 1st Baron Haughton on 9 July 1616 and 1st Earl of Clare on 2 November 1624. He died at home in Nottingham and is buried in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. He had 6 sons and 4 daughters.

Student of Architecture

Around 1604, he mentioned in a letter to the

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

that he was returning the earl's architecture books, including works by

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

, Vignola and Guigati, which were required by Sir Edward Francis. Northumberland had sent him other volumes by Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau, Philibert de l'Orme, Sebastiano Serlio, Wendel Dietterlin, and

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, Catholic priest, priest, linguistics, linguist, philosopher, and cryptography, cryptographer; he epitomised the natu ...

, and he knew that Holles had his own copy of the works of Palladio.

Children

* Arabella Holles (1594–1631), married

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (New Style, N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English people, English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament of England, Parliament ...

* John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare (1595–1666), married Elizabeth Vere. MP for

East Retford East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

* Robert Holles (1597-1666) * Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles (1599–1680) MP for Mitchell * Francis (1604–1622) * Samuel Holles (1608-1645) * Eleanore Holles, married Oliver Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, became Countess of Tyrconnel, buried in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham 11 April 1681

Ancestry

Coat of arms

References

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, John Holles, 1st Earl of 1564 births 1637 deaths Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn 16th-century English nobility English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1614 High sheriffs of Nottinghamshire Earls of Clare Politicians from Nottingham 17th-century English nobility