Cornelius Holland (1600 - bef. 1674)

Born 3 Mar 1600 in St. Lawrence Pountney, London, England

Husband of Sybelle (Unknown) Holland — married about 1627 in England

Descendants

Died before 1674 before age 73 in Switzerland [uncertain]

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Cornelius Holland was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Biography

Cornelius Holland was born 3 Mar 1599/1600 in St. Lawrence Pountney, London, eldest son of Raphe Holland, merchant taylor and officer of the wardrobe to Queen Elizabeth I, James I, and his wife, Queen Anne of Denmark.^[1]

His ancestry was described by a defender and long-term friend of the family in 3 Oct 1648:

"His father, to my knoweldge, descended by his Grandfather, of that ancient and noble family of the Hollands, of Holand Com. Lancaster, Earls of Kent, Dukes of Surrey and Exeter; and by his Grandmother of the ancient, and noble family of the Ogles, Barons of Northumberland."^[2]

Cornelius worked in the service of Sir Henry Vane, the elder. He resided at Millbank, Westminster in 1629. He received a pension from the Crown in 1630 for L160. He became comptroller 30 Dec 1635 (to Charles I) working in the household of the son Charles (II).

He lived at Richmond Surry 15 June 1640. The same year he was elected a Member of what would become the infamous "Long Parliament," standing for New Windsor, Berkshire. "He, Sir Henry Vane, and others termed Independents (because of their more moderate religious views) came to control the purse strings of the country."^[3]

Regicide

Cornelius Holland was one of those who sought in September 1648 to prevent Parliament from making peace with Charles I during the English Civil War. He was a Commissioner (Judge) at the trial of Charles I in January 1648/9. Though he did not sign the actual death warrant of the king, he was still tainted as a Regicide, to be executed and his heirs to forfeit his property.

He escaped. He went initially to the Netherlands where he escaped assassination (two other Regicides weren't so lucky). He made his way to Protestant Switzerland, arriving in Sept or Oct 1666. He lived in Lausanne and Vevey (on Lake Geneva) until at least 1669, but apparently died by 1672 or 1674.^[4]

Family

He married, about 1627 (based on births of his oldest children), Sibella (or Sybil) Forth, daughter and eventual heir of Edward Forth of New Windsor, Berkshire, and his wife Barbara. She was a cousin of the wife of Gov. John Winthrop of New England.^[5]

Children:^[6]

1. James Holland, bp St. Lawrence Pountney, London 17 Feb 1627/8; not mentioned in will of his grandmother Joane Holland in 1633/4; might be the James Holland, child, buried St. Margaret's Westminster 31 Jul 1629.
2. Susanna Holland bp St. Margaret's Westminster 2 Sept 1629; probably the daughter who married regicide Henry Smith by 26 Nov 1648. She died of the plague in August 1664.
3. Sibell Holland b abt 1631
4. Elizabeth Holland, bp St. Margaret's, Westminster, 26 Mar 1633; m1 John Shelston, Esq., of West Bromwich, Staffordshire, bur. 18 Feb 1664/5; m2 West Bromwich 3 Nov 1666 Dr. Walter Needham (esecutor of Daniels Axtell's will); he d. 5 Apr 1691.
5. Mary Holland, bp Mortlake, Surrey, near Richmond Palace, 21 Oct 1634; might be the Mrs. [Mistress] Mary Holland bur. Richmond 19 Dec 1650.
6. Barbara Holland, bp Richmond, Surrey, 19 Jan 1636/7; bur there 6 Oct 1639
7. Sarah Holland, bp 3 Apr 1638 St. Margaret's Westminster, prob bur. Richmond 9 Oct 1638
8. Hannah Holland, b abt 1639/40; bur Richmond, Surrey, 4 Aug 1642
9. Anne Holland, bp Richmond, Surrey, 12 Apr 1641
10. Rebecca Holland, b abt 1642; m. in Chesham, Bucks., 20 Jul 1659 (when her father's residence was stated to b Creslo, Bucks.) Daniel Axtell
11. Erasmus Holland, b by 1644; had son named Cornelius chr. St. Martinn-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, 1 Jun 1664.
12. -- Holland.

Sources

1. ↑ Paul C. Reed, "A Tale of Two Regicides: Daniel Axtell and Cornelius Holland (and Their Son and Daughter, Who Helped Save the Carolinas)," in The American Genealogist, 81(April 2004):304-305. Reed discounts as false the origins described in accounts of the Regicides and biographers, including Mark Noble (1798).
2. ↑ Reed, p 310, citing Thomason Tracts, Reel 74, E.465.
3. ↑ Reed, p 308, citing Rowe, Sir Henry Vane the Younger, 130, citing Holles's Memoires, 193
4. ↑ Reed, p 310, citing A.B. Worden, ed., Edmund Ludlow: A Voyce from the Watch Tower..., Camden 4th ser., 21 (London, 1978), p 15, and others
5. ↑ Reed, p 311; footnotes suggest areas for further research of the Forth family.
6. ↑ Reed, p 312, citing Gilbert Mabbott, 3 Oct 1648, issue of The Moderate..., which stated that Cornelius had 12 children, five already deceased. See also St. Lawrence Pountney, London, parish register (FHL #374,466) and Richmond, Surrey, parish register (FHL #991,696)

• British History online: Proclamation for apprehending the late King's Judges