Admiral John Holloway (15 January 1744 – 26 June 1826) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, before serving as Governor of Newfoundland between 1807 and 1809.

Biography

Early career

Holloway was born in Wells, Somerset, and entered the navy in 1760, aged about 13, aboard the 50-gun ship , under Captain James Webb, who sailed to Newfoundland to serve as Commodore-Governor of the colony. The following year he returned to Newfoundland in the same ship, now under Captain Thomas Graves. Holloway served for another two years in Newfoundland under Sir Hugh Palliser, before sailing for America with Admiral Philip Durell in 1766. In 1768, he joined the , under Commodore Samuel Hood. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1771, and was soon after appointed to the 74-gun ship , stationed as a guard-ship at Portsmouth.

American Revolutionary War

When the American War began, he joined the frigate under Captain George Elphinstone. After a year he transferred to , the flagship of Commodore William Hotham, and was First Lieutenant of her during the encounter between Admirals Richard Howe and the Comte d'Estaing off Rhode Island on 10 August 1778, where the opposing squadrons were arrayed in line of battle when a storm broke, scattering the ships and preventing a battle from taking place. Towards the end of the year, Commodore Hotham was sent to Barbados, to reinforce Rear-Admiral Samuel Barrington's squadron, with 5,000 troops for the capture of St. Lucia. Some time after the conquest of the island, Holloway moved with Hotham into the , but soon joined the , flagship of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, who promoted him to commander. and shortly after was appointed assistant port admiral at Portsmouth, remaining there until the Treaty of Amiens brought a suspension of hostilities in late 1801. Soon after the renewal of the war, in May 1803, he returned to Portsmouth. In the course of the year, he made a survey of the nearby coast; and on his recommendation three 98-gun ships were stationed at Lymington, St. Helens, and at Southampton Water, to guard the Isle of Wight in the event of an invasion. and served on Downs Station, under his former Captain, George Elphinstone, now Admiral Lord Keith. Concerned about the treatment of the native Beothuk people, he issued a proclamation against mistreating them on 30 July 1807, and offered rewards for information about atrocities. Holloway twice sent officers to the Bay of Exploits to meet the Beothuk, and also sent an expedition under William Cull.

Holloway allowed John Ryan to publish Newfoundland's first newspaper, the Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser, on condition that it would not contain anything "inflammatory against the Government of Great Britain", nor "sow dissension among the inhabitants of this island". A traditionalist, Holloway reverted to the anti-settlement mentality of some past governors and forbade the use of land for cultivation. the same month, and the next July was made admiral of the white. He died in Wells at the age of eighty-two on 26 June 1826.

  • Sarah Emma Orde (1786-1870)
  • William Henry Hotham (1789-1802)
  • Anne Wallace (1790-1873)

References

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