Arthur Hill, 2nd Marquess of Downshire PC, FRS (3 March 1753 – 7 September 1801), styled Viscount Fairford until 1789 and Earl of Hillsborough from 1789 to 1793, was a

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

peer and MP.

Life

Hill was the eldest son of Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough (later

Marquess of Downshire Marquess of Downshire is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, a former Secretary of State. Hill had already been created Earl of Hillsborough and Viscount Kilwarlin of County Down ...

) and Lady Margaretta Fitzgerald . He matriculated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

in 1771, and received his M.A. in 1773. Hill sat as a

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

for the

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; ) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwi ...

from 1774 to 1780, and then for

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

until 1784. He also represented

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

from 1776 until succeeding to the peerage in 1793. Hill enjoyed a number of civil and military appointments in both England and Ireland during this period. He was commissioned a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the Hertfordshire Militia on 22 March 1775, and a lieutenant-colonel in the regiment on 4 May 1787, resigning his commission on 4 June 1794. Appointed the deputy governor of

on 6 August 1779, he was pricked as High Sheriff of the county in 1785. Hillsborough, as he then was, was chosen a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

on 22 January 1790 and a deputy lieutenant of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

on 12 May 1792. Upon the death of his father on 7 October 1793, he succeeded him as

, in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, as well as in his other subsidiary titles, including that of

Earl of Hillsborough Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

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 repla ...

. He also succeeded his father as Hereditary

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

of Hillsborough Fort, and as

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 ...

(16 October) and Governor of Down (17 October). On 7 November, he was appointed to the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. Downshire vigorously exerted himself against the Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, and was punished by the Government for his opposition by being dismissed from the Governorship of Down and the colonelcy of the Downshire Militia, and struck off the roll of the Privy Council, on 12 February 1800. He committed suicide on 7 September 1801. Hill had an estimated income of £40,000 a year.

Family

On 29 June 1786, he married Mary Sandys, by whom he had seven children: * Arthur Blundell Sandys Trumbull Hill, 3rd Marquess of Downshire (1788–1845) *Lt.-Gen.

Arthur Moyses William Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys Lieutenant-General Arthur Moyses William Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys (10 January 1792 – 16 July 1860), styled as Lord Arthur Hill until 1836, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. Background Hill was the second son of Arthur Hill, 2nd Marque ...

(1792–1860) *Lady Charlotte Hill (15 July 1794 – 30 September 1821) *Lady Mary Hill (8 July 1796 – 24 May 1830) * Arthur Marcus Cecil Sandys, 3rd Baron Sandys (1798–1863) *Lord Arthur Augustus Edwin Hill (13 Aug 1800 – 10 July 1831) *Major Lord George Augusta Hill (9 December 1801 – 6 April 1879) His last son, Lord George Hill, was born posthumously, as Downshire died by suicide on 7 September 1801. His widow, Mary, felt his early death was in part due to his humiliation by the Government, and thereafter was a bitter enemy to

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Kingdom of Ireland, Ir ...

. She was the heiress of her uncle,

Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys (28 April 1726 – 11 March 1797), was a British politician. He was the eldest son of Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys, and his wife Letitia, daughter of Sir Thomas Tipping, 1st Baronet, Sir Thomas Tipping, Bt. ...

, and to the estates of her grandfather, William Trumbull, including

Easthampstead Park Easthampstead Park is a Victorian architecture, Victorian mansion in the civil parish of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is now a Convention center, conference centre. Location Since the demise of Easthampstead parish, the ho ...

. In 1802, after Downshire's death, she was created Baroness Sandys, with a special remainder to her younger sons and their heirs male in succession and then to her eldest son and his heirs male. Hill also had a son, William Arthur Dore-Hill, born in 1778, with his mistress Sarah Dore (who later married William Garrow).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downshire, Arthur Hill, 2nd Marquess of 1753 births 1801 deaths People from Hillsborough, County Down People from Bracknell Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fairford, Arthur Hill, Viscount Fairford, Arthur Hill, Viscount Deputy lieutenants of Berkshire Fellows of the Royal Society Kilwarlin, Arthur Hill, Viscount Hillsborough, Arthur Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, Arthur Hill, Earl of Fairford, Arthur Hill, Viscount Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Fairford, Arthur Hill, Viscount Hertfordshire Militia officers High sheriffs of Down

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

Arthur 2 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Down constituencies 1800s suicides British politicians who died by suicide Suicides in Northern Ireland 19th-century suicides