John Holloway (Royal Navy officer)

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

Holloway was born on 15 January 1744 at Wells, Somerset, England. He joined the Royal Navy in 1760, and visited Newfoundland with Governor Thomas Graves the next year while serving aboard HMS Antelope. He was promoted to lieutenant on 19 January 1771, in 1779 he became a commander, and in January 1780 he became a post-captain. After serving during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary Wars, he was promoted to rear-admiral on 14 February 1799, and became vice-admiral on 25 October 1804.

In 1807, Holloway was appointed Governor of Newfoundland. Concerned about the treatment of the native Beothuk, 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 Beothuk, and also sent an expedition under William Cull.

Holloway allowed John Ryan to publish Newfoundland's first newspaper, the Royal Gazette, 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.

In March 1809, the British parliament made permanent the island's courts of judicature, and re-annexed Labrador to Newfoundland, largely as a result of Holloway's lobbying. He left Newfoundland in October 1809. He was promoted admiral of the blue the same month, and the next year was made admiral of the white. He died in Wells at the age of eighty on 26 June 1826.

Family

Holloway was married to Elizabeth Walrond (d.1838), daughter of Maine Swete Walrond, 5th Marqués de Vallado, and Sarah Lyons. This union produced four children:

• Clementina (1782–1851), wife of Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway, 1st Baronet
• Sarah Emma Orde (died 1870)
• William Henry Hotham (died 1802)
• Anne Wallace (died 1873)

External links

• "John Holloway (Royal Navy officer)". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005. 
• Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Erasmus Gower	Commodore Governor of Newfoundland 1807–1809	Succeeded by Sir John Thomas Duckworth