HILL, John (1740-1824), of Prees Hall, Salop.

Hill was again returned unopposed for Shrewsbury in 1790 and gave, as before, a silent support to Pitt’s administration. He was listed hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in Scotland in 1791. On 22 May 1795 he was granted two weeks’ leave of absence for private business. To the indignation of his brother Sir Richard and himself, he was opposed by their young kinsman William Hill in 1796. He had had no part in his brother’s political vagaries. Sir Richard, defending John Hill’s record, admitted that his family responsibilities had prevented him from attending Parliament regularly.Sir Richard Hill, A Christmas Box for the Freemen and Burgesses of Salisbury (1796). They both denied that he was under any engagement to make way for William Hill. Hill, who admitted on the hustings that he had no ‘splendid talents or abilities’, was defeated and evidently intended to retire, which he was never far from doing all his life, but came in again briefly on a vacancy in June 1805, thereby claiming to be ‘the means of preserving ... quiet’.Salop RO, Bygott (Hawkstone) mss 731/255; Salopian Jnl. 5 June 1805. He caused no stir at Westminster either; though listed ‘doubtful Sidmouth’ like his brother in July 1805, he applied to Pitt for ecclesiastical patronage for another brother in December. He retired at the ensuing general election.PRO 30/8/145, f. 118; Salopian Jnl. 29 Oct. 1806.

Hill was called ‘the father of heroes’, five of his sons, including Sir Rowland Hill, having distinguished themselves in the Napoleonic wars; when he was presented at Court in 1815, the Regent informed him ‘I am glad indeed to see the father of so many brave sons’.Rev. E. Sidney, Life of Lord Hill, 3. He died 21 May 1824, ‘easily and happily after scarcely one whole day’s illness’.Gent. Mag. (1824), ii. 278.