William Holliday

Who was William Holliday?

William Holliday was a wealthy London businessman and chairman of the East India Company.

He was apparently born in Gloucestershire. It is not clear who his parents were: Burke's Commoners makes him out to be the son of Lawrence and Anne Holliday of Gloucester, but the children listed in Lawrence's will and the brother and sister named in William's will do not have the same names, so they appear to be different families. Nevertheless, according to William's will, he was a cousin of Sir Leonard Holliday, who was later Lord Mayor of London.

William was later sent to London, probably in the 1580s, where he served an apprenticeship in the Worshipful Company of Mercers, which controlled the city's textile industry.

He married circa 1600, Susan, the daughter of Henry Rowe, a prominent member of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers and later Lord Mayor. William and Susan had two daughters: Anne and Margaret.

William evidently had a successful career as a mercer. He was also involved in the East India Company, of which his cousin Sir Leonard had been a founder, and was elected as a 'committee', i.e. director, in 1616.