John Henry Hill (September 11, 1791July 1, 1882) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

businessman, educator and member of the Episcopal Church, chiefly identified with teaching and missionary work in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Biography

He was born in

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, and graduated at Columbia College. He took up a business career for 20 years, and then entered

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

. He was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1830, and that same year also became a priest. He was a

philhellene Philhellenism ("the love of Greek culture") was an intellectual movement prominent mostly at the turn of the 19th century. It contributed to the sentiments that led Europeans such as Lord Byron and Charles Nicolas Fabvier to advocate for Greek i ...

, and in 1830 he went as a missionary to Greece. At

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

he and his wife, Frances Maria Mulligan Hill (1799-1884), who he had married in 1821, established schools for girls and boys. These were the first Athenian schools founded after Greece's secession from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Also part of their mission was John J. Robertson, an Episcopal clergyman. He set up a printing press. The Greek government eventually founded a school for boys, and the Hills decided to devote their attention to educating girls. In their educational work, the Hills made no effort to promote their own church, but were careful to work with the

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

and the government, by which they were officially recognized in 1834. The Hills also founded a high school for the training of teachers. Their work at first received little encouragement, but prospered after pupils from prominent and wealthy Greek families began to attend the school. Hill was chaplain of the British Legation in Greece from 1845 to 1875, and continued his teaching during that time. He and his wife also founded a free school for the poor. He went blind around 1877, but with his wife's assistance continued to direct their educational efforts. In 1881, on the 50th anniversary of the girls' school, he was officially thanked by King

George I of Greece George I ( Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for ...

. On his death at Athens, the Greek government, in recognition of his educational work among the women of Athens, buried him with the honors of a

taxiarch Taxiarch, the anglicised form of ''taxiarchos'' or ''taxiarchēs'' ( el, ταξίαρχος or ταξιάρχης) is used in the Greek language to mean "brigadier". The term derives from ''táxis'', "order", in military context "an ordered forma ...

, and the Athenian municipality erected a monument to his memory. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by Harvard and Columbia. Frances Hill also died in Athens. The school that the Hills founded is still in operation in Athens under the name of the Hill Memorial School.

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, John Henry 1791 births 1882 deaths American Anglican missionaries Greek educators Columbia College (New York) alumni American expatriates in Greece Protestant missionaries in Greece 19th-century American Episcopalians People from New York City