Reverend James Hill
(1807-1880)
13 June 1862

Volume 7, page 119, sitting number 8723.

Born at Armagh in County Tyrone in 1807, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1834, MA 1842, BD 1853, DD 1870). He was ordained in Ireland and after serving a short time as curate in his native parish, he settled in England. In 1844 he was appointed headmaster of the Upper School at Greenwich Hospital (the Royal Hospital School). He retired on a pension in 1870. He died on 16 February 1880, aged 72. 

According to his obituary in the Kent Mercury (21 February 1880): 'The cause of death was a stroke of paralysis which seized him early on Sunday morning. Though he lived till the next day he never recovered consciousness. This sad event has removed a form and figure familiar to many of our readers. The deceased gentleman came to Greenwich in 1844 and has resided in the neighbourhood ever since. [...] Though his time was so largely devoted to the duty of teaching he never gave up ministerial and pastoral work. His voice was frequently heard, both in prayer and preaching, in the chapels of the school and Hospital, and in most of the Greenwich churches. The congregations of the Parish Church and of St Peter, as well as the inmates of the Union Workhouse, will have recollections of his services. He leaves behind him a widow, with seven sons and a daughter, to mourn his loss. The deceased gentleman was a staunch Conservative, and was never absent from the meetings held in Greenwich for the furtherance of the cause of Church and State.'