John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare


John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare was an English nobleman.
He was the son of Denzil Holles of Irby upon Humber and Eleanor Sheffield on 23 May 1591 in Shelford, Nottinghamshire. Through his marriage to Anne, he inherited Thurland Hall in Nottingham which was later known as Clare Place. The family seat was at Haughton Hall in the parish of Bothamsall, which was demolished in the late eighteenth century. He served as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1591–92.
He was comptroller of the household of Prince Henry until the prince's death on 6 November 1612.
He was Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire from 1604 to 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. He was created 1st Baron Haughton on 9 July 1616 and 1st Earl of Clare on 2 November 1624.
He died at home in Nottingham and is buried in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. He had 6 sons and 4 daughters.

Student of Architecture

Around the year 1604 he mentioned in a letter to the Earl of Northumberland that he was returning the earl's architecture books, including works by Vitruvius, Vignola and Guigati, which were required by Sir Edward Francis. Northumberland had sent him other volumes by Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau, Philibert de l'Orme, Sebastiano Serlio, Wendel Dietterlin, and Leon Battista Alberti, and he knew that Holles had his own copy of the works of Palladio.

Children