A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hills, Thomas
HILLS. (Lieutenant, 1806.)
Thomas Hills entered the Navy, in Dec. 1794, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Victory 100, Capt. John Knight, in which ship he was present under the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Mann in Hotham’s action of 13 July, 1795, and under that of Sir John Jervis in the battle fought off Cape St. Vincent 14 Feb. 1797. He continued to serve with the last-mentioned officer as Midshipman of the Ville de Paris 110, on the Mediterranean and Channel stations, until Jan. 1801, between which period and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 7 Nov. 1806, he was further, it appears, employed on board the Eurydice 24, Capts. Walter Bathurst and Chas. Malcolm, Seahorse and Amphitrite frigates, both commanded by Capt. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, Bellona 74, Capts. Chas. Dudley Pater and John Erskine Douglas, and Hibernia 110, bearing the flag of Earl St. Vincent. He made a voyage in the Eurydice to the East Indies, and on his return to the Mediterranean in the Seahorse he served in the boats at the destruction of a convoy in Hyères Bay in 1804. From 28 Nov. 1806 until 27 May, 1811, Lieut. Hills was employed on board the Philomel sloop, Capts. Geo. Crawley, Geo. Downie, Geo. Davies, Spelman Swaine, and Gardiner Henry Guion, under the first named of whom, besides witnessing the surrender, in 1809, of the island of Ithaca, he assisted, on 31 Oct. in that year, in covering the boats of a squadron during a desperate and successful attack made by them on a convoy in the Bay of Rosas. In Sept. 1811 he was appointed to the Leyden 64, armée en flûte, Capts. Edw. Chetham and John Davie, also in the Mediterranean, where he remained until Dec. 1814. He afterwards assumed command, in Feb. 1818 and June, 1820, of the Industry Revenue-cutter, and Pigmy schooner, on the Home station; and, since 8 March, 1837, he has been in charge (with a brief interval between 9 Oct. and 13 Dec. 1841) of the Semaphore Station at Holder Hill, Mildhurst.
Lieut. Hills is married and has issue.