A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hill, John
HILL, Kt. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 51; h-p., 15.)
Sir John Hill entered the Navy, 25 Sept. 1781, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Infernal bomb, Capt. Jas. Alms, on the books of which vessel he was borne until March, 1783. On 20 April, 1788, he joined the Nautilus sloop, Capt. Thos. Boulden Thompson, stationed at Newfoundland; and he next, between 1789 and his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 28 July, 1794, served in the Channel and West Indies, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, on board the Goliath and Bedford 74’s, Capts. Archibald Dickson and Robt. Mann, and Porcupine 24, Capt. Jas. Alms. In the course of the latter, and the following year, he was successively appointed to the Invincible 74, and Juste 80, both commanded by Capt. Hon. Thos. Pakenham, on the Channel station, where, for a few months in 1797, he again served with Capt. Alms, in the Repulse 64. He then joined the Princess Royal 98, bearing the flag in the Mediterranean of Sir John Orde, with whom he remained until transferred, in May, 1798, to the Minotaur 74, Capt. Thos. Louis, part of the victor-fleet at the ensuing battle of the Nile; for his conduct as Senior Lieutenant on which occasion, he was advanced to the rank of Commander by commission dated 8 Oct. in the same year. From 2 Feb. 1800, to 6 March, 1802, and from 31 March, 1804, until 27 Oct. 1808, we next find Capt. Hill commanding the Heroine, and Humber, in the Mediterranean and Channel. On 24 March, 1813, he was appointed to an Agency for Transports – the duties of which post he continued to discharge, in the Baltic, and on the coasts of Holland and France, for a period of nearly six years. Having attained Post-rank 28 Oct. 1815, he was subsequently, from 1820 until 1838, employed as Captain-Superintendent of Deptford Victualling Yard. He was appointed, on 9 March in the latter year. Superintendent of the Dockyard at Sheerness; and, since 11 Dec. 1841, be has been again officiating in a similar capacity at Deptford.
The honour of Knighthood was conferred on Capt. Hill 31 Aug. 1831. His only son is a Captain in the Army; and one of his daughters, now deceased, was the wife of the present Capt. W. L. Castle, R.N.