Isle of Wight

There is a Hollier's Hotel at Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight. This was associated with William & Alice Hollier, who died respectively in 1875 and 1879. William came from a Hollier family from Niton, IOW. Records suggest that William and Alice originally leased Daish's Hotel, further along Old Shanklin. Holliers Hotel is said to have been originally built in 1824 by William Williams and had a thatched roof, like many of the other buildings in the village. The hotel sketch further below seems to show this.

Early History

Early references to the Hollier name on the Isle of Wight are found in the Lay Subsidy of 1522, when a Robert Holyer is recorded at Kerne Tything (near Brading) and a George Holyer at Knighton Tything (Newchurch). The Lay Subsidy of 1547 records a Thomas Holier at Newchurch. In 1563 and 1568, an Andrew Hollyer or Holliard is mentioned and his Will of 1576 records his children Anthony, Giles, William and Ann. A small number of baptism, marriage and burial records from the 16th century survive, but due to the patchy survival of early parish registers, combined with the 'Commonwealth gap' in the 17th century, it is not possible to reconstruct many family groups in this early period. In 1674, a Roger Hollier is recorded as paying Hearth Tax at North Shorwell and it may be him or his son who married at Kingston in 1686 to Jane Guier. Almost all the known Isle of Wight Holliers descend from Roger and his siblings John, Richard and Ann. There were Holliers on the Isle of Wight until 1940. The last known Hollier descendant of this line died in 2002.

It seems likely that the name arrived on the island from the Holliers in the New Forest area of Hampshire, or possibly the other way round. From the 18th century onwards, there is a good record of baptisms, marriages and burials and the Wills provide many valuable insights into the families. Most of these families stayed on the island, save for the 'Till Holliers' described below.

The 'Till' Holliers

One particular family has been extensively researched. In the early generations they used the first name Roger quite frequently, which was not at the time a common name. Later this family adopted the unusual first name Till and this continued for many centuries. It arose from the marriage of Roger Hollier to Rebecca Till at Newport in 1716. Roger and Rebecca had 6 children, the eldest was Till who moved to Chichester, marrying Elizabeth Clayton there in 1751. Till was noted in 1784 as a Customs Officer, a job he must have got through his mother's Till family. Till and Elizabeth's family all moved into the City of London, as had several of Till's brothers. In all, 5 Holliers are known to have had the first name Till. By the 19th century, we find Till Henry Hollier at Greenwich. He gave his birthplace in both the 1851 and 1861 censuses as Scotland, which suggests he wanted to confuse the census takers.

In earlier times, this family all left interesting wills that helpfully named many other family members and helped establish the full family tree. One side branch of the family included Richard and Laetitia Hollier and it would be correct to describe Richard as a 'gentleman and a scholar'. In his will of 1852 he set up scholarships in Greek and Hebrew at University College, London, which are still given today. When Laetitia died in 1871, she gave a major bequest of books and pictures to Gresham College. Other family members were associated with a gold refining business in Love Lane in the City of London, while another became City Marshall.

More images of Holliers Hotel

In the above sketch, the side-block on the left hand side already appears to have been rebuilt, compared to the view below which shows it with its original thatched roof.