Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hill, Rowland (1492?-1561)
HILL, Sir ROWLAND (1492?–1561), lord mayor of London, descended from an ancient family, was born, probably in 1492, at the family seat of Hawkstone Park, Hodnet, Shropshire. He was eldest son of Thomas Hill, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhay, was apprenticed to Sir Thomas Kitson [q. v.], mercer, of London, and was admitted to the freedom of the Mercers' Company in 1519. His house of business was in Walbrook, ‘over against the church,’ and by his extensive foreign commerce he soon amassed a large fortune. Hill appears among the debtors to Henry VIII in 1533 (Brit. Mus. Roy. MS. 7 C. xvi. 78) and in 1535 (State Papers, Henry VIII, viii. 57). In the latter year he was assessed for a subsidy at the large sum of 2,000l. (ib. p. 184). In 1536 he was one of the king's creditors who were ‘contented to forbear until a longer day’ (ib. xi. 566). He became warden of the Mercers' Company in 1536, and was four times master, viz. in 1543, 1550, 1555, and 1561. In Midsummer 1541 he was elected sheriff, and was knighted, probably during his year of office. He became alderman for Castle Baynard ward on 9 Nov. 1542 (City Records, Repertory 10, f. 290 b), and on 3 Dec. 1545 he removed to Walbrook ward (cf. ib. Repertory 11, f. 254 b). On Michaelmas day 1549 he was chosen lord mayor, and is said to have been the first protestant to attain that position. In 1551 he was appointed by commission a member of the council of the marches of Wales (Strype, Memorials, vol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 161–2). In the following year he obtained a grant, by letters patent of Edward VI, of several churches and rectories in Shropshire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire (ib. p. 17). He is said by Maitland (History of London, 1756, ii. 1198) to have been elected one of the city representatives in Mary's first parliament in 1553, but the official returns are wanting. In 1557 he was appointed, despite his reputation as a staunch protestant, one of Philip and Mary's commissioners against heretics (Foxe, Acts and Monuments, 4th edit., viii. 301–3). In 1559 his name was included in a list of principal merchants from whom Sir Thomas Gresham advised Queen Elizabeth to extort a forced loan in that year (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1558–9, p. 153). He died, unmarried, on 28 Oct. 1561, ‘of the strangwyllyon,’ and was buried on 5 Nov. at St. Stephen's, Walbrook (Machyn, pp. 271–2). His epitaph, which is recorded by Stow (Survey of London, 1754, i. 515), notices his learning. The monument was in the south aisle, and perished with the church in the great fire of London. An obelisk was erected to his memory in Hawkstone Park by a collateral descendant, Sir Richard Hill, bart. [q. v.], in 1795 (Hughson, i.e. Pugh, Hist. of London, ii. 24–6). The inscription attests his staunch protestantism, and states that he died in his seventieth year, and gave up mercantile pursuits at the end of his life to devote himself to his spiritual welfare.
Hill's benefactions and charities during his lifetime were unbounded, and his virtues are extolled by Fuller (Worthies, 1811, ii. 263) and Machyn. His property was immense, and his rental is said to have included the names of 1,181 tenants. In his lifetime he built a large church for his own parish of Hodnet, and another for the neighbouring parish of Stoke. He also built Tern and Atcham bridges (among others) in his native county, and made and repaired several highways. His educational endowments comprised the building and maintenance of a free school at Drayton (see will proved 14 April 1551, Cal. of Husting Wills, 1890, ii. 651–2) and exhibitions at both universities, besides personally supporting many students both at the universities and the inns of court. His private charity included the annual gift of clothing to three hundred poor people. By his will, dated 12 Nov. 1560 and proved in the P.C.C. 7 Nov. 1561 [Loftes, 33], he made numerous bequests to relatives, servants, tenants, and friends, to the poor of London, Hodnet, Stoke, and Drayton, and 40l. to each of the hospitals of St. Thomas, Christ, and Bridewell; he left the whole of his remaining fortune to his friend Alderman Sir Thomas Leigh [q. v.], who married his niece Alice. He had previously given 200l. to St.Bartholomew's Hospital and 600l. to Christ's Hospital. Another will, dated 10 Dec. 1560 and proved 1 Feb. 1561-2, was executed as feoffee in trust of property in St. Lawrence Jewry parish, formerly belonging to Sir Richard Gresham [q. v.], the income to be administered by the Mercers' Company for the benefit of the poor of the neighbouring parishes (Cal. of Husting Wills, ii. 677).
A portrait belongs to Lord Berwick; there is a lithographic print by Gauci. His arms are in a window of Mercers' Hall.
[Authorities above cited; information supplied by Mr. C. Hill, F.S.A.; Kittermaster's Shropshire Arms and Lineages, 1869; Records of the Corporation of London and of the Mercer's Company.]