Career
Hollis was born in London, and was privately educated in England, Switzerland and Germany. He worked for a commercial company in German East Africa (1893-1896) and in 1897 he was appointed assistant collector in the British East Africa Protectorate. He wrote pioneering works on the Maasai (1905) and the Nandi people (1908).
In 1913, Hollis took up the post of colonial secretary in Sierra Leone, and in 1920 he was appointed chief secretary in Tanganyika.
In 1924 he became British Resident Minister in Zanzibar. In 1930 Hollis was made governor of Trinidad, holding that post until his retirement in 1936.
He came into conflict with Arthur Andrew Cipriani over the transfer of the electric works to the authority of the Portuguese of Spain City Corporation. Hollis died at the age of 87 in Cambridge.
