William Holland (born 1478 or later, died 1547 or later) was an English merchant and administrator in Dartmouth, Devon. On three occasions he was briefly a member of parliament. As a merchant, Holland specialized in trading with Spain. He was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

for the borough of Dartmouth in 1529, 1539 and 1542. He felt the impact of the worsening relations with Spain caused by the years of the English Reformation begun by Henry VIII in the early 1530s. In 1537, his rival John Trevanion reported Holland to

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

for causing the plundering of two ships at Dartmouth, and Trevanion said he had ‘caused much trouble’. His enemies included Sir John Fulford, whose servants tried to attack him in 1538. In 1546 Holland seized goods from a Spanish ship. The last certain trace of Holland is that in 1547 he filed a petition in Chancery against his nephew Robert in connection with an inheritance dispute. He may have been mayor of Dartmouth in 1550-1 and a ‘William Holland the elder’ was disfranchised there on 9 August 1558. No evidence has been found of when he died.

References

15th-century births 16th-century deaths Members of the Parliament of England for Dartmouth English MPs 1529–1536 English MPs 1539–1540 English MPs 1542–1544 {{1529-England-MP-stub