Maurice Christopher Hollis, known as Christopher Hollis (2 December 1902 – 5 May 1977) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 schoolmaster

Schoolmaster

A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...

, university teacher, author and Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

Life

Hollis was born at Wells

Wells

Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, in 1902, one of the four sons of George Arthur Hollis

George Arthur Hollis

George Arthur Hollis was Bishop of Taunton from 1931 to 1945. Born on 17 April 1868 he was educated at Keble College, Oxford and ordained in 1894. He began his ecclesiastical career with a curacy at St James Wednesbury followed by a spell as Perpetual Curate of St Bartholomew Armley...

 (1868–1944), vice-principal of the Wells Theological College

Wells Theological College

Wells Theological College began operation in 1840 within the Cathedral Close of Wells Cathedral. In 1971 it merged with Salisbury Theological College, the students moved to Salisbury, and the new institution became known as the Salisbury & Wells Theological College, now Sarum College.The official...

 and later Bishop of Taunton

Bishop of Taunton

The Bishop of Taunton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title was first created under the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 and takes its name after Taunton, the county town of Somerset.The...

. He was educated at Eton

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, where he was president of the Oxford Union Society. He travelled as a member of the Union's debating team to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. He was a friend of Ronald Knox

Ronald Knox

Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was an English priest, theologian and writer.-Life:Ronald Knox was born in Kibworth, Leicestershire, England into an Anglican family and was educated at Eton College, where he took the first scholarship in 1900 and Balliol College, Oxford, where again...

 and Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...

 and in 1924 converted to Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, as Knox had already done and as Waugh did later.

For ten years from 1925 he taught history at Stonyhurst College

Stonyhurst College

Stonyhurst College is a Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate near the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire, England, and occupies a Grade I listed building...

, then from 1935 to 1939 was a visiting professor of the University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, where he carried out economic research.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Hollis returned home and served throughout the war as a Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 intelligence officer.

Immediately after the war, he was elected as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Devizes

Devizes (UK Parliament constituency)

Devizes is a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire, England, which is now represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 in the House of Commons of England....

 in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

 and held the seat until he retired undefeated in 1955. While in the House of Commons, he showed an independent spirit, for example by supporting the abolition of capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 while that was not his party's general view, and was popular on all sides. When he left the Commons (to be succeeded by another Conservative, Percivall Pott

Percivall Pott (politician)

Henry Percivall Pott, usually known as H. Percivall Pott was a British farmer, company director and politician...

) he became a parliamentary commentator for Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

and retired to Mells

Mells, Somerset

Mells is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, near the town of Frome.The parish includes the village of Vobster which had a coal mine of the same name on the Somerset coalfield and quarry, both of which are now disused. The old quarry is now used as a diving centre...

, near Frome

Frome

Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...

 in Somerset, where he spent his time in writing books and journalism and in supporting Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...

 and other local interests. He was also a member of the publishing firm Hollis and Carter, a subsidiary of Burns and Oates. In 1957 he briefly revisited Australia, in association with the Congress for Cultural Freedom.

Hollis wrote books and articles on a variety of historical and political subjects. His last book, Oxford in the Twenties (1976) is about his wide circle of friends, including Evelyn Waugh, Maurice Bowra

Maurice Bowra

Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra was an English classical scholar and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1951 to 1954.-Birth and boyhood:...

, Harold Acton

Harold Acton

Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton CBE was a British writer, scholar and dilettante perhaps most famous for being wrongly believed to have inspired the character of "Anthony Blanche" in Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...

, Leslie Hore-Belisha, and the cricketer R. C. Robertson-Glasgow

R. C. Robertson-Glasgow

Raymond Charles 'Crusoe' Robertson-Glasgow was a British cricketer and cricket writer....

.

Family

In 1929, Hollis married Madeleine King, daughter of the Rev. Richard King, Rector of Cholderton

Cholderton

Cholderton is a village in the Bourne Valley of Wiltshire, England, close to the border with Hampshire.Cholderton Charlie's Farm, one of 16 Rare Breeds Survival Trust approved farm parks, is located here.-External links:****...

, and herself also a Roman Catholic convert, and they had one daughter and three sons, including Crispian Hollis

Crispian Hollis

Roger Francis Crispian Hollis is the Bishop of Portsmouth for the Catholic Church. His parents were Christopher Hollis , the author and parliamentarian, and Madeleine Hollis .-Family life:...

, Bishop of Portsmouth

Bishop of Portsmouth (Catholic)

The Bishop of Portsmouth is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth in the Province of Southwark, England.The bishop's official residence is St...

.

He was the brother of Sir Roger Hollis

Roger Hollis

Sir Roger Henry Hollis, KBE, CB was a British journalist and secret-service agent, who was Director General of MI5 from 1956 to 1965.-Early years:...

 and the uncle of Adrian Hollis

Adrian Hollis

Adrian Swayne Hollis , is an English correspondence chess grandmaster and was British Correspondence Chess Champion in 1966 , 1967, and 1971....

.

Publications

• The Breakdown of Money
• The Two Nations: A financial study of English history (London: George Routledge & sons, 1935)
• Thomas More
• G. K. Chesterton
• The Achievements of Vatican II (Knowledge and faith)
• Holy places: Jewish, Christian and Muslim monuments in the Holy Land
• The Monstrous Regiment
• The Papacy: An Illustrated History from St Peter to Paul VI
• A Study of George Orwell (1956)
• The Ayes and the Noes (1957)
• Eton: a History (1960)
• The Homicide Act (1964)
• The Oxford Union (1965)
• Newman and the Modern World (1968)
• The Jesuits: a history (1968)
• The Mind of Chesterton (1969)
• A Study of George Orwell the Man and His Works
• Christianity and Economics
• History of Britain in modern times, 1688-1939 (The Ashley histories)
• Death of a Gentleman
• Saint Ignatius
• Evelyn Waugh
• Our Case: What we are fighting for - and why
• The Rise and Fall of the Ex-Socialist Government
• Can Parliament Survive?
• The Seven Ages: their exits and their entrances
• Parliament and its Sovereignty (1973)
• Oxford in the Twenties (1976)

External links

• Christopher Hollis page at librarything.com