Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill

Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill

Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill , GCB , GCH (born August 11, 1772 in Prees Hall , Shropshire , † December 10, 1842 near Shrewsbury ) was a British general .

Life

Hill learned war science at the Military Academy in Strasbourg and joined the British Army in 1790 as an ensign . He was promoted to captain as early as 1793, then quickly advanced to major and lieutenant colonel . As a colonel in the 90th  Infantry Regiment , he was wounded in Egypt in 1801 . In 1803 Hill led a brigade in Ireland .

In 1808 he went to Portugal as major general . There he took part in the entire Peninsular War . In the Battle of Vimeiro he commanded a brigade, but was not used. He later distinguished himself under Sir John Moore on the retreat to La Coruña and under Arthur Wellesley , later Duke of Wellington, in the battles of Talavera (July 28, 1809) and Busaco (September 27, 1810). Here he led the 2nd Infantry Division.

In 1811 he received the command of an army corps as lieutenant general , with which he defeated General Gérard at Arroyo de Molinos on October 28, 1811 and took the fortress of Almaraz by surprise on May 16, 1812 . At Vitoria he commanded the right wing on June 21, 1813. He was able to use it successfully in the battles at Nivelle , Orthez and Toulouse . His masterpiece, however, is the defense of the town of Saint-Pierre-d'Irube against twice as strong a superiority of the French in the Battle of the Nive on December 13, 1813. Hill and his units were cut off from Wellesley's troops after a pontoon bridge from the raging river had been destroyed.

On May 17, 1814 he was raised to the hereditary nobility as Baron Hill , of Almaraz and of Hawkstone in the County of Shrewsbury . Before Wellington's arrival, he commanded the British Army in Belgium in 1815 . He commanded II Corps at the Battle of Waterloo and led the famous attack by Sir Frederick Adams' brigade against the Imperial Guard . He then became the second in command of the occupying army in France .

Because it was foreseeable that he would have no male descendants, he was awarded the further hereditary title of Baron Hill , of Almaraz and of Hawkestone and Hardwicke in the County of Shrewsbury on January 16, 1816 . This award was made with a special note that the male descendants of his older brother John Hill (1769-1814) could inherit the title.

Hill was promoted to general in 1825 and became governor of Plymouth in 1827, and in February 1828 Commander in Chief of the British Army .

Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, circa 1842

He retired in August 1842 and was promoted to Viscount Hill , of Hawkestone and of Hardwicke in the County of Shrewsbury on September 27, 1842 . The title was bestowed with the same special notice as the Barony of 1816. Rowland Hill died on his country estate Hardwicke Grange near Shrewsbury on December 10, 1842. His Viscountcy and Barony of 1816 inherited his nephew Rowland Hill (1800–1875), his Barony of 1814 expired.

Trivia

He was nicknamed 'Daddy Hill' (Papa Hill) by his soldiers because he cared very much for his men and was adored by them. On one occasion he gave a picnic basket to a wounded officer who arrived at his headquarters. Another time he rewarded a simple sergeant who handed him a letter with dinner, a place to sleep, and a pound sterling for the onward journey.

literature

• Jaromir Hirtenfeld : The military Maria Theresa order and its members. Imperial and Royal Hofbuchdruckerei, Vienna 1857, p. 1177.
• Hill, Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 13 : Harmony - Hurstmonceaux . London 1910, p. 466 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington	Commander in Chief of the British Army 1828–1842	Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
New title created	Baron Hill 1814-1842	Title expired
New title created	Baron Hill 1816-1842	Rowland Hill
New title created	Viscount Hill 1842	Rowland Hill