Captain Sir Frescheville Holles, 1641- 72, and Admiral Sir Robert Holmes, 1622 - 92

Sir Peter Lely, 1618 - 80

In March 1672, Holles and Holmes launched the Third Dutch War by attacking the homeward-bound Dutch Smyrna convoy. Here their 'Turkish' costume and the sea-fight in the background suggest that the picture commemorates this event. If so, Holles probably never saw it finished, since he died at the Battle of Solebay in May 1672. The pose also conceals the loss of his left arm in 1666.

Purchased with the Caird Fund in 1950, from the estate of Lady Clayton

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

5. Sir Robert³ Holmes (Henry², Robert¹) was born in Ireland 1622. Robert died 18/11/1692 in Englefield Green, Surrey, at 70 years of age. His body was interred November 1692 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Robert was promoted in 1660 to Captain. Robert was promoted in 1661 to Rear Admiral of a detached force. Robert was promoted in 1666 to Rear Admiral of the Red. Robert was knighted 27/03/1666 in Deptford, London. Robert was promoted in 1667 to Admiral of a detached force. He made a will 28/10/1692. Robert's will was probated 19/11/1692. Of Mallow, County Cork. Admiral, Governor of the Isle of Wight (1622 -1692)

Third son of Henry Holmes of Mallow, County of Cork, and brother of Sir John Holmes, he served during the civil war in the Royalist Army and, after the death of Charles I, in the semi-piratical 'squadron' of Prince Rupert. In both army and naval activities he favourably distinguished himself; but when he saw that the Royal cause could no longer be supported by arms, he offered his services to foreign souvereigns. Again he highly distinguished himself in France, Germany and Flanders, attaching himself to the Duke of York.

After the restoration of Charles II he was rewarded in October 1660 with the Governorship of Sandon Castle in the Isle of Wight. About the same time he sailed for the Guinea Coast for the protection of trade from where he brought back the gold from which Guineas were first minted. He was appointed to command 'Bramble', 'Henrietta' and later the 'Royal Charles'. A minor incident with the Swedish Ambassador plus a taste for flamboyant dress earned him the disfavour in the diaries of Pepys who had a 'natural fear of being challanged' by Holmes.

Towards autumn of 1663 he was appointed to the 'Jersey' and sent to the coast of Africa to support the Royal African Company there against the encroachment of the Dutch. After taking possession of several Dutch settlements there (Gorre, Cape Coast, Aga, Annamaboe etc.) he crossed the Atlantic in August 1664 to oust the Dutch from Niew Amsterdam, which in English hands beame New York.

Consequent of representation made by the Dutch, he was committed to the Tower; however, his detailed narrative warranting his conduct earned his release on 6 March 1665 and on 23 March he received 'a general pardon and release for all felonies and offences in England or elsewhere'. But the blame for the war that followed is frequently laid on Holmes. If his narrative is true, he acted with judgment, prudence, skill and courage; but the 'facts' as described by Valkenburg, Dutch Governor of Elbina on whom Holmes laid the chief blame, are scarcely recognisable as the same.

Holmes was then appointed Captain of the 'Revenge', one of the White Squadron under Prince Rupert in the action off Lowestoft on 3 June 1665. From the reputation he acquired here, he requested promotion to the Flag of Rear Admiral of the White, vacant by the death of Sansum, but was denied in favour of Harman. Consequently he handed his Commission to the Duke who tore it up. Despite his behavior, described as that of 'a rash, proud coxcombe...he is rich and sought an occasion of leaving the Service', he was appointed to the 'Defiance' while still on the stocks before being launched on 27 March 1666. The king (with the Duke of York and Prince Rupert) was present at the ceremony and conferred on Holmes the honour of knighthood.

When the fleet was remodelled on 30 May 1666, Holmes was nominated Rear Admiral of the Red over Harman who remained Rear Admiral of the White. Further appointments and action brought him both renown and disfavour, even to as far as the king ordering a Court Martial, but which resulted in the matter being referred back to the king and a duel ensuing between Holmes and Admiral of the Blue Squadron, Sir Jeremy Smyth. Holmes was falsely reported to have been killed, for soon after the king conferred upon him an honourable augmentation to his arms: the English Lion in a Canton; and as a crest: a naval crown, out of which an arm in armour bearing a trident.

In 1667 Sir Robert Holmes was returned to Parliament as Member for Winchester. He was also appointed Captain-General and Governor of the Isle of Wight where, at Yarmouth, he had built a large mansion. There he entertained the king in 1671, 1675, and 1677 with 'regal magnificence', which would seem to confirm Pepy's statement of his being rich. Still further appointments and action ensued, his career bound with the Duke of York's tenure of office as Lord High Admiral, particularly in the war against the Dutch.

His later life was passed in the duties of his office as Governor of the Isle of Wight and as Member of Parliament, in which he sat almost continuously for Winchester, Yarmouth or Newport. (Newport - 1678, 1685, 1689-90; Yarmouth - 1688-89) In July 1690, after the battle of Beachy Head, he was despatching intelligence of movements of the French Fleet.

His will dated 28 October 1692 described him then as in perfect health; and thus, without any long illness, he died on 18 November 1692. He was buried in Yarmouth Church where there is an ornate monument to his memory.

It appears that he never married; therefore he had no legitimate children and, by his will and after making an ample provision for an illegitimate daughter (Mary Holmes), he devised the bulk of his property to his nephew, Henry, son of his elder brother, Thomas Holmes of Killmallock, County Limerick, subject to the condition that he marry the illigitimate daughter within eighteen months. This marriage duly took place and resulting in many children which included Thomas, 1st Baron Holmes of Killmallock, and Admiral Charles Holmes.

Sir Robert Holmes and Grace Hooke had the following child:

9 i. Mary⁴ Holmes was born circa 1678. Mary died March 1760 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, at 81 years of age. Her body was interred 7/03/1760 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. also date of 6 April mentioned She married Colonel Henry Holmes.

Henry was born c1660. Henry was the son of Colonel Thomas Holmes and Anne Gibbons. Henry died 18/06/1738 at 77 years of age. His body was interred 23/06/1738 in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. (See Colonel Henry Holmes for the continuation of this line.)

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