Francis Hollis

Who was Francis Hollis?

Francis Septimus Hollis was a British clergyman in the Anglican Church. He held the position of Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak from 1938 until 1948.

Hollis was the son of George Hollis, of the Inner Temple. He was educated at St George's School, Harpenden, and in Germany and France. He became a Fellow of the Surveyors Institute in 1908, and entered Dorchester Missionary College, Dorchester on Thames in 1910. He was ordained in 1914. He served as Curate of Ashby-de-la-Zouch from 1913-1916.

Hollis first went to Sarawak, Borneo in 1916, serving as Assistant Priest at the St. Thomas' Cathedral at Kuching from 1916–1923, and then as Priest in Charge of the Land Dayak mission of St James, Quop and Tai, from 1923-1928. He was Principal of St Thomas' School from 1928-1938. In 1934 he was made Archdeacon of Sarawak, and was consecrated Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in 1938.

Hollis was interned at Batu Lintang camp near Kuching for three and a half years from 1942 until 1945, and this period of internment seriously undermined his health. Hollis's eyesight was particularly badly affected. In 1948 he resigned the see after serving for 32 years in Sarawak. After the devastation of World War II, the diocese of Labuan and the bishopric of Sarawak were joined into the diocese of Borneo; Nigel Cornwall was consecrated the first bishop of Borneo on 1 November 1949.