Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, (30 May 1718 – 7 October 1793), known as The 2nd Viscount Hillsborough from 1742 to 1751 and as The 1st Earl of Hillsborough from 1751 to 1789, was a British politician of the Georgian era. Best known in North America as the Earl of Hillsborough, he served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1768 to 1772, a critical period leading toward the American War of Independence.

Background

Born at

Fairford Fairford is a town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park. History Evidence of ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, Wills Hill was the son of

Trevor Hill, 1st Viscount Hillsborough Trevor Hill, 1st Viscount Hillsborough (1693 – 5 May 1742) was an Anglo-Irish landowner and politician who sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1713 to 1715 and in the British House of Commons from 1715 to 1722. Hill was the eldest son of M ...

, and Mary, daughter of Anthony Rowe. He was named after

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir Charles Wills General Sir Charles Wills (October 166625 December 1741) was a professional soldier from Cornwall, who was Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance and Member of Parliament for Totnes from 1718 to 1741. He began his military career in 1689, serving s ...

, his godfather.

Political career

Hill, known retrospectively as Downshire, was returned to Parliament for

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

in 1741, a seat he held until 1756. He succeeded his father as The 2nd Viscount Hillsborough in May 1742 (as this was an

Irish peerage The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divis ...

he was able to continue to sit in the British House of Commons). Lord Hillsborough, as he now was, was the same year appointed

Lord Lieutenant of County Down This is a list of '' lords lieutenants of County Down''. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1831. Governors * B ...

and

Custos Rotulorum of County Down The Custos Rotulorum of Londonderry and Down was the highest civil officer in counties Londonderry and Down. Incumbents Londonderry * 1663–1665 John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene * 1666–1695 John Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Massereene ( ...

. In 1751, he was created Earl of Hillsborough in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1754, he was made Comptroller of the Household, a post he held until 1756, and appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. In 1756, he was created Baron Harwich, of Harwich in the County of Essex, in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself r ...

, which entitled him to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. For nearly two years, between 1763 and 1765, Lord Hillsborough was President of the Board of Trade and Plantations under

George Grenville George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an ...

, and after a brief period of retirement he filled the same position in 1766, and then that of joint

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

, under the

Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham, of Chatham in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1766 for William Pitt the Elder on his appointment as Lord Privy Seal, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Pitt, of Burto ...

. From 1768 to 1772, Hillsborough was Secretary of State for the Colonies and also President of the Board of Trade. Both in and out of office, Hillsborough opposed all concessions to the American colonists, but he favoured the project for a union between England and the Kingdom of Ireland. On his retirement in 1772, he was created Earl of Hillsborough in the Peerage of Great Britain. In 1779 he served as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, remaining until 1782. He was the last person to serve in this position, because the Secretaries of State were reorganized. In 1789, he was made Marquess of Downshire in the Irish peerage.

Family and legacy

Lord Downshire married firstly Lady Margaretta, daughter of The 19th Earl of Kildare, in 1747. His second daughter and last child by his first marriage was Lady Charlotte Hill, wife of The 1st Earl Talbot. Lady Talbot was the subject of a notable portrait by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

. After her death in 1766, he married secondly

Mary Bilson-Legge, 1st Baroness Stawell Mary Hill, Countess of Hillsborough (''née'' Stawell; 27 January 1726 – 29 July 1780) was an English peeress, a daughter of Edward Stawell, 4th Baron Stawell. On 11 September 1750, she married Henry Bilson-Legge (a son of the 1st Earl of ...

, daughter of Edward, 4th Baron Stawell, and widow of

Henry Bilson-Legge Henry Bilson-Legge (29 May 1708 – 23 August 1764) was an English statesman. He notably served three times as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1750s and 1760s. Background and education Bilson-Legge was the fourth son of William Legge, 1st ...

, in 1768. She died in 1780. Lord Downshire died on 7 October 1793, aged 75, and was succeeded by his son from his first marriage,

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

. In the United States, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire,

Hillsborough Township, New Jersey Hillsborough Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region within the much larger New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the ...

, the town of

Hillsborough, New Hampshire Hillsborough, frequently spelled Hillsboro, is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,939 at the 2020 census. The town is home to Fox State Forest and part of Low State Forest. The main village of the t ...

, within the county, the town of

Hillsborough, North Carolina The town of Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, United States and is located along the Eno River. The population was 6,087 in 2010, but it grew rapidly to 9,660 by 2020. Its name was unofficially shortened to "Hills ...

, and Hillsborough County, Florida, were named after the Marquess.

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlingame to the north, San Mateo to the east, Highlands- ...

, named for Hillsborough, New Hampshire, is an indirect namesake. In Canada, Hillsborough Bay, on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, and the village of

Hillsborough, New Brunswick Hillsborough is a village in Albert County in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The village is situated on a hill overlooking the Petitcodiac River near the intersection of Route 910 and Route 114. Hillsborough is the largest settlemen ...

, were named in Downshire's honour. Wax profile of Lord Hillsborough (1718-93)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downshire, Wills Hill, 1st Marquess Of 1718 births 1793 deaths Secretaries of State for the Colonies Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 Peers of Great Britain created by George II Fellows of the Royal Society United Kingdom Postmasters General

Wills Wills may refer to: * Will (law) A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the pr ...

18th-century Irish landowners Lord-Lieutenants of Down

People from Fairford Presidents of the Board of Trade