William Hill (16 July 1903 – 15 October 1971) was the founder of William Hill, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

bookmaking A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

firm. Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Hill left school at the age of twelve to work on his uncle's farm.William Hill at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> While working in a factory in

he started collecting illegal

bets Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

from local people on his

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

. In 1919, Hill joined the Royal Irish Constabulary (Cork East Riding - and is documented on the RIC records as such) as a driver while underage (16) and was stationed in

Mallow, County Cork Mallow (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland, approximately thirty-five kilometres north of Cork. Mallow is in the barony of Fermoy. It is the administrative centre of north County Cork, and the Northern Divisional Offices of Cork County Coun ...

, Ireland. After the hopeless failure of his first foray into bookmaking, he moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1929 where he started taking bets on

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

s before opening an illicit gambling den in

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers. Hist ...

in 1934. He exploited a loophole which allowed credit or postal betting but not cash.William Hill deal with TurfTV a case of history repeating as punter power wins day
/ref> In 1938 he was the joint owner of Lone Keel who went on to win the 1938 English Greyhound Derby. In 1944 he produced the first fixed-odds football coupon. In 1954 he reversed his business into ''Holder's Investment Trust'', a shell company, thereby securing a listing on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

. Although he had called legal betting offices "a cancer on society", he opened his first in 1966, after his competitors had stolen a march on him. He was also interested in breeding horses and in 1943 bought a

stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...

at Whitsbury in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. Hill bred and owned

Cantelo Cantelo (foaled 1956) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a career which lasted from spring 1958 until September 1959 she ran eleven times and won eight races. Cantelo was unbeaten in five races as a two-year-old including the ...

, a filly who won the

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...

in 1959. He retired in 1970William Hill: History
/ref> and died in Newmarket the following year, aged 68.

Family

In 1923 he married Ivy Burley and together they had one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, William 1903 births 1971 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople William Hill (bookmaker) People in greyhound racing People from Birmingham, West Midlands