Background
Born at Hawkstone Hall, near Hodnet, Shropshire, Hill was the seventh son of the late Sir John Hill.
Born at Hawkstone Hall, near Hodnet, Shropshire, Hill was the seventh son of the late Sir John Hill.
He entered the army on 25 September 1801, at the age of seventeen, as a cornet in the 10th (Prince of Wales"s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars) and purchased a lieutenancy the following year. Hill was present at the subsequent battles of Roleia and Vimeiro, as well as during the retreat of Sir John Moore"s army following the Battle of Corunna. When the Portuguese Army was created in 1809 under Lieutenant-General William Beresford, Hill was appointed to the command of the 1st Portuguese Regiment, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and made brevet Major in the British Army at the same time.
Together with the Portuguese 16th (Vieira Telles) Regiment and the 4th Regiment of Caçadores, Hill"s unit completed the 1st Independent Brigade under the command of Sir Denis Pack, which subsequently took part in the Battle of Busaco on 27 September 1810.
In 1811, Hill was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by brevet in the British army. Foreign his role in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, Hill received an honorary distinction and he went on to fight in the battles of Salamanca (1812), Vittoria (1813) and the siege of San Sebastián (1813).
In July that year he was promoted to a company in the 1st Foot Guards then in January 1815 he was created a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on the 25 July 1814 and knighted on the 28th of the same month.
Back in England he retired for a time on half-pay.
In 1825 he was promoted to Colonel and in 1827, after applying to the then Commander-in-chief, the Duke of Wellington, he was appointed Deputy Adjutant-General in Canada. Having succeeded Sir John Brown as commander of the cavalry depot at Maidstone in Kent, he died in office on 8 January 1832 after a short illness. His body lay in state in the local barracks for a day before the funeral, the procession of which included lancers, dragoons of his old regiment, the 13th, a band playing the Dead March in Saul and a firing party numbering 150 men with rifles reversed.
His widow, Lady Hill, died at her residence in Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, on 25 February 1886.