1ST

MARQUESS OF

See also:

• WILLS, WILLIAM GORMAN (1828-1891)

WILLS

See also:

• HILL
• HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
• HILL, A
• HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
• HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
• HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
• HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
• HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
• HILL, JAMES J
• HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
• HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
• HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
• HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
• HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)

HILL

See also:

• 1ST MARQUESS OF WILLS HILL DOWNSHIRE (1718-1793)

DOWNSHIRE (1718-1793)  , son of Trevor Hill, 1st Viscount Hillsborough, was born at Fairford in Gloucestershire on the 3oth of May 1718 . He became an English member of parliament in 1741, and an Irish viscount on his father's death in the following year, thus sitting in both the English and Irish parliaments . In 1751 he was created earl of Hillsborough in the Irish peerage; in 1754 he was made comp-troller of the royal household and an English privy councillor; and in 1756 he became a peer of Great Britain as baron of Harwich . For nearly two years he was president of the board of trade and plantations under George Grenville, and after a brief period of retirement he filled the same position, and then that of joint postmaster-general, under the earl of Chatham . From 1768 to 1772 Hillsborough was secretary of state for the colonies and also president of the board of trade, becoming an English earl on his retirement; in 1779 he was made secretary of state for the northern department, and he was created marquess of Downshire seven years after his final retirement in 1782 . Both in and out of office he opposed all concessions to the American colonists, but he favoured the project for a union between England and Ireland . Reversing an earlier opinion Horace Walpole says Downshire was " a pompous composition of ignorance and want of judgment." He died on the 7th of October 1793 and was succeeded by his son Arthur (1753-1801), from whom the present marquess is descended .