Holland, John Philip (1841–1914), inventor of the submarine, was born 24 February 1841 at Castle Street, Liscannor, Co. Clare, son of John Holland, a coast guard officer, and his second wife, Mary (née Scanlon). He was educated at St Macreehy's national school, Liscannor, and by the Christian Brothers in Limerick, where his family moved in 1853 after his father's death. During his childhood, a younger brother and two uncles also died.
In June 1858 he entered the Christian Brothers and trained to be a school teacher. For many years he taught at schools in Cork, Maryborough (Portlaoise), Enniscorthy and Drogheda, becoming known as a maths teacher. Because of ill health, on 26 May 1873 he received a dispensation from the order releasing him from his initial vows. Sailing for America, he lived first in Boston with his younger brother Michael, a member of the American Fenian Brotherhood who had left for America a few years earlier along with his mother, an elder brother and a sister. In November 1873 he suffered a broken leg after a fall. Moving to New Jersey, he became a teacher in a catholic school in Paterson and continued the experiments that he had begun in Drogheda on the concept of a submarine; a term apparently first coined by Holland himself. His initial interest in the idea stemmed from reading about a pioneering battle between ironclad ships during the US civil war. In February 1875 he offered his patent to the US Navy, but the Navy secretary at first rejected it as ‘a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman’.
Through his brother Michael's association with Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (qv), Holland met John J. Breslin (qv) and John Devoy (qv) in 1876. Considering that Britain’s mastery of the seas was a great obstacle to Irish independence, Devoy convinced Clan na Gael to use their ‘skirmishing fund’ to finance Holland’s experiments, although there is no evidence that Holland ever joined the revolutionary organisation. With the assistance of Breslin, he gave up teaching in 1876 and worked steadily on the project, mostly at Delamater Iron Works, West 14th Street, New York. He produced his first model, the Holland I, in 1878. It was a one-man, fourteen-foot craft, powered by a two-cylinder engine. In summer 1881 he produced a more advanced model, which was thirty-one feet long and could hold a crew of three. A journalist for the New York Sun nicknamed this model ‘The Fenian ram’ and described it as a ‘wrecking boat’. It was successfully launched but defective riveting made it unseaworthy when submerged for long periods. Refining his plan, Holland launched a third vessel the following year that weighed nineteen tons. This was capable of prolonged submersion but developed engine problems, and further testing was prevented by its failure to comply with the New York Harbour Board's shipping laws. During 1883 this model was brought to New Haven, Connecticut, where it was kept in storage after its use was forbidden. Later, it was exhibited by Clan na Gael at a bazaar at Madison Square Gardens to raise funds for the families of the 1916 rebels, and then donated to the naval school at Fordham University, New York, before its ultimate relocation to the Paterson Museum in New Jersey.
The total cost of Holland’s experiments had been nearly $60,000 and legal issues had also arisen. Therefore the Clan tried to assume exclusive ownership of the models, much to the annoyance of Holland who parted their company and began to conduct his experiments privately.
Supported by Edmund L. G. Zalinski, an American military engineer and inventor, Holland developed a fourth vessel, the Zalinski, which proved seaworthy but unattractive to investors. Thereafter Holland was forced to work as an engineer to earn a living until financial assistance from E. B. Frost, a wealthy lawyer, allowed him to set up the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company in 1893. Two years later, it was contracted by the US Navy to build a submarine, the Plunger. This project, however, was dominated by the navy's own engineers who largely ignored Holland's advice. The Plunger's poor manoeuvrability led to it being scrapped by the navy. Holland returned to working on his own design and in 1897 launched the Holland VI. This model, which was fifty-three foot long and could hold a crew of six, performed well in tests. It proved capable of reaching speeds of up to 9 knots, diving to a depth of 60ft, and remaining submerged for forty hours. Utilising compressed air technology, it was armed with a torpedo launcher and an underwater cannon. In April 1900, the US Navy agreed to purchase it for $150,000 and commissioned him to build several more. It was named the USS Holland and became the prototype for the US Navy's submarine fleet as well as for other forces throughout the world. In 1901, despite Holland's personal reservations, the navy’s Electric Boat Company sold the plans to the British admiralty, leading to its creation of the Holland-class submarine. Holland continued to work on improvements to his basic model. In 1910, shortly after his retirement from the submarine business, he was decorated by the emperor of Japan for his work on behalf of the Japanese navy.
A man of considerable versatility and ingenuity, he also worked on developing a viable motor-truck and was an amateur astronomer and musician. He married (January 1887) Margaret Foley, daughter of an Irish immigrant; they had five children. In late 1911, the death of his daughter Julia in her nineteenth year affected him badly. His own death on 12 August 1914 at 38 Newton Street, Newark, New Jersey, coincided with the start of the first world war, during which the devastating military potential of the submarine was amply demonstrated. He was buried at the Holy Sepulchre cemetery, Paterson, New Jersey.
To mark the centenary of his death, with the support of the Irish Maritime Institute, a monument was erected on the site of school in which he taught in Drogheda during a ceremony that was attended by representatives of the American, British and Japanese navies. A limited-edition commemorative coin was also issued by the Central Bank of Ireland while the school in which he taught in New Jersey was renamed in his honour and a centre dedicated to his life was created in his birthplace of Liscannor.