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HILL, Samuel (?1691-1758), of Shenstone Park, nr. Lichfield, Staffs.
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Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. ?1691, 1st s. of Samuel Barbour of Prees, Salop by Elizabeth, da. of Rowland Hill of Hawkstone, Salop; 1st cos. of Sir. Rowland and Thomas Hill. educ. Eton; St. John’s, Camb. 29 Apr. 1707, aged 16; M. Temple 1708; Grand Tour (Italy, France) c.1709-15. m. 1722 (with £10,000), Lady Elizabeth Stanhope, da. of Philip, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, sis. of Hon. Charles, John, Philip Dormer and Sir William Stanhope, s.p. suc. fa. between 1710 and 1715; uncle Rev. Richard Hill to Shenstone and other estates 1727.
Offices Held
King’s Latin sec. 1714-18; registrar of courts of Admiralty, Delegates and Prizes 1714-d.
Biography
Samuel Barbour was brought up by and assumed the name of his uncle, Richard Hill (see Hill, Sir Rowland), who sent him to Cambridge and then ‘abroad to visit the most polite courts of Europe, under the powerful recommendation of his great friend, who had lived there in a public character much esteemed, especially among the Italian princes.’ At George I’s accession he succeeded his uncle as King’s Latin secretary, a small sinecure, and was also made registrar of several courts.1 Returned on his uncle’s interest for Lichfield in 1715, classed as a Tory who might often vote Whig, he voted against the Government in every recorded division. He either resigned or was dismissed from the Latin secretaryship in 1718,2 but remained registrar of the Admiralty etc., which he may have held under a life patent. In 1722 he retired from Parliament, having found it ‘not agreeable to his natural temper which could not away with [conform to] the manner of speaking and transacting business in that honourable House’. Beyond supporting Tory candidates at Lichfield he appears to have taken no further active part in politics.3
He died 21 Feb. 1758, said to be worth £300,000.4
