Richard Hillary (1703–1789) was an English merchant and ship-owner in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Background

Hillary was from a Yorkshire and

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

background, his father being John Hillary of Birkrigg near

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

and mother Mary Robinson his wife. They had three sons and six daughters, Richard being the youngest son; the physician

William Hillary Sir William Hillary, 1st Baronet (4 January 1771 – 5 January 1847) was a British militia officer, author and philanthropist, best known as the founder, in 1824, of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.. Life Hillary's background was Q ...

was the second son. His mother was the daughter of Richard Robinson of

Countersett Countersett is the largest of the three settlements in Raydale, around Semerwater in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Yorkshire Dales to the north of the lake. The Boar East and West were once one farm, and ...

. Around 1700 the family moved to Burtersett. They were linked to the Fothergill brothers, of the Carr End Quaker family: the eldest son Isaac was on good terms with Alexander Fothergill, the elder brother, while William and John Fothergill the physician were both apprentices of Benjamin Bartlett the apothecary, father of

Benjamin Bartlett ''For the American politician see Benjamin T. Bartlett IV'' Benjamin Bartlett (1714–1787), was an English numismatical and topographical writer. Life Bartlett was of an old-established quaker family at Bradford, Yorkshire, where his father wa ...

the antiquary.

Merchant

Hillary was a Liverpool shipowner from 1746, in a number of consortia. He was in correspondence with

John Reynell John Reynell (9 February 1809 – 15 June 1873) was an English-born emigrant to the colony of South Australian where he became established as a wheat farmer, a sheep and cattle breeder, and a vigneron and winemaker. Reynell was born in Ilfraco ...

of Philadelphia by 1748. Richard Hillary & Co. were potters at Dale Street/Preston Street in Liverpool, from 1753. Hillary was partner with others (John Atkinson, James Gibson, Samuel Kenyon, James Roscoe). As merchants they took a lease from William Rowe. Hillary is mentioned as a tanner, and as having a warehouse (new) in Tower Gardens, in 1757. In 1763 Hillary was granted administration of his brother William's estate. A 1766 Liverpool directory has Hillary based in Oldhall Street. The firm of Hillary & Scott consisted of Hillary and John Scott, a nephew: he was the son of Richard's eldest sister Ann (born 1693), who had married Joseph Scott of Countersett. They participated mostly in the West Indian trade. In 1766 they were based in the Old Churchyard, Chapel Street. They also traded from Old Hall (Oldhall) Street. After his marriage, Hillary moved with his family to Dale Street. Hillary & Scott co-owned the ''Hillary'', a

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

. It made voyages to

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

, where Quakers had settled. Hillary became a plantation owner, in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

; at one point the Hillary family business owned 900 slaves.

Death and legacy

Hillary died leaving estates in Yorkshire and Jamaica to his eldest son.

Family

Hillary married a Quaker, Hannah Wynne or Winn in 1764, sister of Isaac Lascelles Winn. They had three children who survived to adulthood. The elder son Richard junior died in November 1803, in Jamaica, where he was a member of the House of Representatives, at age 35; he resided at

Sewardstone Sewardstone is a hamlet and district of southern Waltham Abbey, in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England, lying between Epping Forest and the built-up areas of Waltham Abbey, Chingford and Enfield. It is 11.6 miles north-northeast of Centr ...

outside London, and left property including sugar estates to his brother

, who had also inherited when John Scott died in 1791.''Journal of the Friends Historical Society'' vol. 60, No.3 pp. 157–179 "Quakers of Countersett and their legacy" by Christopher Booth, at p. 171

Mary Rolls Mary Rolls née Hillary (also known as Mrs Henry Rolls; 13 September 1775 – 8 April 1835) was an English poet. Life Born on 13 September 1775 to Hannah (née Wynne; 1738–1806) and Richard Hillary (1703–1789) in Westmorland, she was raised ...

the poet was the daughter of the marriage.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillary, Richard 1703 births 1789 deaths Businesspeople from Liverpool English Quakers People from Richmondshire (district)