Clement Delves Hill

Major-general Clement Delves Hill (6 December 1781 – 20 January 1845) was a British Army Officer who fought at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and later saw service in India.

Clement Delves Hill by William Salter

Career

The sixth son of Sir John Hill Bt. and Mary, co-heir and daughter of John Chambré of Petton, Shropshire, he was born on 6 December 1781 at Hawkstone Hall near Prees Shropshire.[1]

He joined the Royal Horse Guards (Blue) as a cornet on 22 August 1805 and was promoted to lieutenant on 6 March 1806. Promotion to captain followed on 4 April 1811; to major on 19 December 1811; to lieutenant-colonel on 30 December 1813; to colonel on 21 June 1827 and to major-general on 10 January 1837.[2]

After arriving in Portugal he served throughout the Peninsular War as aide-de-camp to his elder brother Lord Hill and was slightly wounded during the campaign.[2]

He was present at the Battle of Waterloo where he was wounded when a sword was thrust through his thigh, pinioning him to the ground.[3][2]

In India, he commanded the Mysore Division of the Madras Army under the Marquess of Tweeddale from 24 November 1841.[4][2]

Death

Hill died at the falls of Guersoppa in the Indian state of Karnataka on 20 January 1845 aged 63 and was buried at Honavar on the 22 January.

There is a colossal monument erected in honour of Colonel Hill in Honavar. The monument is a 30-metre (98 ft) tall column popularly known as Colonel Hill Pillar. [5] [6] [7] Locals are trying hard to preserve the column and grave in Honavar.

There is a commemorative tablet dedicated to Hill in St Chad's Church, Prees.[4]

Family

His brothers Rowland, Thomas and Robert all followed military careers and were present at the Battle of Waterloo.[8]

He is not the same Clement Delves Hill who on 26 June 1841 Hill married Harriet Emma Charlotte, only daughter of sportsman and eccentric John Mytton (1796–1834).[9] This man was actually Maj.-Gen. Clement Delves Hill's nephew, the youngest son of his brother John Hill and Elizabeth Cornish Rhodes. [10]

References

1. Burke 1869, p. 584.
2. "Death of Major-general Hill". Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principality of Wales. 12 March 1845. Retrieved 3 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. Dalton 1904, p. 2.
4. Bromley & Bromley 2012, p. 1756.
5. http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/karavali/honavar/chill.htm
6. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/634291/colonel-hill-monument-hc-orders.html
7. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Colonel-Hills-171-year-old-column-faces-grave-threat-from-NHAI-project/articleshow/54355390.cms
8. "Death of Sir Robert Chambre Hill CB". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 10 March 1850. Retrieved 15 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. Barker (1900) p.16
10. Dictionary of National Biography

Bibliography

• Bromley, Janet; Bromley, David (2012). Wellington’s Men Remembered: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers who Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo - Vol 1. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-78159-412-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Burke, Bernard (1869). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London: Harrison.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Dalton, Charles (1904). The Waterloo roll call. With biographical notes and anecdotes. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Barker, George Fisher Russell (1894). "Mytton, John". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 40. London: Smith, Elder & Co.