Phil Gyford on 24 Jul 2005  •  Link

Per L&M's Index: Rector of Holy Trinity, Guildford.

Charles Miller on 8 May 2024  •  Link

The church provided some more info on this Rector:

1654/1661-1665 John Holland (lived 1626?-1690)
John was born around 1626 and became rector of St. Mary’s in 1650 and rector of Holy
Trinity in 1661, or probably from 1654, in the confusing years of the Commonwealth. He
was also rector of Albury from 1667-1691. In 1661 he noted in the parish register that he had
received the book from the churchwardens in April 1661, after the changes during the
Commonwealth. So he was perhaps already in post. He resigned from Holy Trinity in 1665.
He must have had curates helping him.
He was made master of Abbot’s Hospital in 1655 as well as being rector of the two churches,
and was very active in sorting out George Abbot’s manufacturing charity, which was not
working as intended. He also borrowed money from the charity to build a wall around the
rectory garden, which he paid back in 1663. He would have been born around 1630, so was
far too young to be master of the hospital, who should have been at least fifty. He had
married in the late 1650s, which again, was not allowed. His first wife died in 1660, three
8
months after giving birth to their first child Barbara, who died a few weeks later. In 1662 he
married Honour Westbrook of Stoke. Two sons called John died young, but three daughters
survived: Elizabeth, Honoria and Ann. All these entries were in the Holy Trinity registers,
rather than St. Mary’s. The family were presumably living in Abbot’s Hospital, which was
certainly more up-to-date than the medieval rectory.
Holland came from a landed family in Gloucestershire, and his will shows that he was
wealthy. He died in 1691, leaving books, money, rings and pictures to his daughters. He
asked to be buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity, with his wives and children.