Background
Hill, son of Major Thomas Hill, was born at Marazion, Cornwall, on 15 May 1804.
Hill, son of Major Thomas Hill, was born at Marazion, Cornwall, on 15 May 1804.
He was educated at Mill Hill School, London, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1836.
In the same year he was ordained a priest, and became a chaplain in the Royal Navy, in which he served till 1845, when he was placed on the retired list. During his service at sea he saw much of the slave trade on the African coast, of which he afterwards published an account in two works. From 1852 to 1857 he was chaplain of the Westminster Hospital, and for some time morning reader at Westminster Abbey.
On 26 January 1863 he was appointed rector of Saint Edmund the King and Martyr with Saint Nicholas Acons, Lombard Street, City of London, where he continued to his death.
He endeavoured to enliven his church by providing a succession of preachers, by improving the choir, and holding short services in the middle of the day. He was the first to introduce a surpliced choir into a city church.
He died at the rectory house, 32 Finsbury Square, London, 28 August 1882, and was buried in the City of London cemetery at Ilford.