Royal Naval Biography/Hill, William
WILLIAM HILL, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1816.]
A son of the Rev. John Hill ; born at Hennock, near Chudleigh, Devon, Nov. 23, 1783.
This officer entered the navy in Jan. 1795; and was a midshipman on board the Colossus 74, commanded, pro tempore, by Captain John Monkton, in Lord Bridport’s action off l’Orient, on which occasion that ship had 5 men killed and 30 wounded[1]. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, with his first patron, Sir Charles Morice Pole, Bart., in the Carnatic 74[2]. We next find him in the Diligence brig. Captain Charles B. H. Ross, which vessel was wrecked on the Honda bank, near Cuba, in Sept. 1800. His first commission bears date April 11, 1803, previous to which he had been wounded in the right arm and side, while acting as lieutenant of the Rattler sloop, Captain J. M. Spread, on the Jamaica station.
Mr. Hill returned to England, in the Vanguard 74, after an absence of nearly nine years, during which time he was very frequently employed in boat service. He then joined the Achille 74, Captain Richard King, under whom he bore a part at the glorious battle of Trafalgar[3].
His last appointment, as lieutenant, was to the Amethyst 42, Captain Michael Seymour, in which ship he assisted at the capture of la Thetis and le Niemen, French frigates of the largest class, full of men, Nov. 10, 1808, and April 6, 1809[4]. Being the senior officer of that rank in the latter action, he was immediately afterwards promoted, and his commission dated back to the day on which it was fought. From Sept. 1812 until March 1819, he successively commanded the Rolla and Bacchus brigs, the Conway 24, and Towey of similar force, in the North Sea, Bay of Biscay, and South America, at the Leeward Islands, and on the East India station. His advancement to post rank took place Dec. 12, 1816.
Captain Hill married, in 1810, Miss Upton, of Cheriton-Bishop, co. Devon, by whom he has several children. One of his brothers is a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army, and a C.B.; another perished in a tender belonging to the Minotaur 74, during the Egyptian expedition; and a third, Frederick Came Hill, is a Lieutenant, R.N.
Agent.– T. Collier, Esq.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 15.
- ↑ See Vol. I. Part II. p. 547.
- ↑ See Vol. I. Part I. note at p. 90.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 295 et seq.