HILL, Sir Rowland, 1st Bt. (1705-83), of Hawkstone, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1734 - 1741

Family and Education

bap. 28 Sept. 1705, 1st s. of John Hill of Wem, Salop, apothecary, afterwards of Lutwyche, Salop by Sarah, da. of John Stubbs of Saw, in Kingsley, Staffs.; 1st cos. of Samuel and Thomas Hill. m. (1) 2 June 1732, Jane (bur. 22 Dec. 1773), da. of Sir Bryan Broughton, 3rd Bt., of Broughton, Staffs., 6s. 4da.; (2) 23 Sept. 1776, Mary, da. and coh. of German Pole of Radbourne, Derbys., wid. of Thomas Powys of Berwick, Salop, s.p. suc. fa. 1713; uncle Rev. Richard Hill to Hawkstone 1727; cos. Samuel Hill to Whitmore Park, Staffs, and Willenhall, Warws. 1758. cr. Bt. 20 Jan. 1727.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Salop 1731-2.

Biography

Sir Rowland Hill, lord mayor of London 1549-50, one of the richest merchants of his time, bought considerable estates in Shropshire, including the manor of Hawkstone, where he was born. He settled the manor on a brother, from whom it descended to the Rev. Richard Hill, an able and important official, deputy paymaster of the forces in Flanders, envoy to Brussels, a lord of the Treasury under William III, and a member of the council of the lord high admiral and envoy to Turin under Anne. A moderate Tory, ‘of the sort who were in earnest for the succession of the House of Hanover,’ Richard Hill remained influential in high circles under George I, though holding no office. He died unmarried in 1727, having settled his estates on his nephews, Rowland, Samuel and Thomas.1

Rowland Hill was made a baronet by George I, presumably by the influence of his uncle, from whom he inherited an estate of £8,000 p.a., together with stock in the Bank of England worth £30,998.2 Returned unopposed as a Tory at Lichfield in 1734 with the support of his cousin Samuel Hill,3 he voted with the Opposition but did not stand again. He spent the later years of his life trying to moderate the religious propensities of his eldest son, Richard Hill, M.P., and of his sixth son, the Rev. Rowland Hill, both of whom were ardent Methodists.4

He died 7 Aug. 1783.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Salop Arch. Soc. Trans. lv. 143-57.
  • 2. Richard Hill's will, PCC 141 Farrant.
  • 3. H. Sanders, 'Hist. Shenstone', printed by J. Nichols in Biblio. Topog. Britannica (1793), ix. 63.
  • 4. Rev. Edwin Sidney, Life of Sir Richard Hill and Life of Rowland Hill.