Revd Thomas Agar Holland (1803-88) was born at Poynings Rectory, Sussex and educated at Edinburgh University and Worcester College, Oxford. Priested in 1827, he was Vicar of Oving, Sussex, and Rector of Greatham, Hampshire, before succeeding his father, Revd Samuel Holland, as Rector of Poynings in 1846. He was also a poet, and his collection Dryburgh Abbey and other Poems, first published in 1826 and believed to have been warmly commended by Sir Walter Scott, was re-issued three times. His anti-Catholic views were reflected in his preaching and writing, and he campaigned against the Catholic revival in England.