People of Welton: The Hill family

The Hills were a family that lived in The Firs. Theirs is a story that takes us far from Welton, across continents, to positions of colonial power and encounters with pirates.

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The 1851 census records the following people living at The Firs:

• Sarah Ann Hill (nee Munnings) aged 35, born in the Bahamas
• Louisa Arabella Hill aged 11 – her daughter, also born in the Bahamas
• Annie Hill aged 6
• Emily Celestine Hill aged 4 – born in Nassau in the Bahamas
• Edmund Stephen Hill aged 1 month and born in Welton; his baptism is recorded in the Welton baptism records on April 13^th, 1851
• George Allinton aged 45, born in Ireland and her brother-in-law, a surgeon in the British Army. 
• Also 3 servants

He was born in St Lucia and began his colonial service in Africa becoming Governor of The Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1851. In 1854 he moved to become Governor of Sierra Leone, a post he was reappointed to in 1860. In 1863 he took on the Governorship of the Leeward Islands and Antigua and in 1869 he became Governor of Newfoundland, a post he held until 1876.

Stephen Hill was of Irish ancestry but was taken into the Munnings household in the Bahamas following the death of his parents from fever in Honduras. It was through this this that he met and later married Sarah Ann Munnings. 

He joined the army on November 10^th, 1825, aged just 16.  He was promoted to Lieutenant on February 13^th, 1828, then Captain on April 15^th, 1842. He commanded an expedition eighty miles up the Gambia in 1849 and was active in several attacks against pirates in the area, which was the primary objective of his mission. 

Consequently, he was promoted to the brevet rank of Major on February 15^th, 1850 – obtaining his majority in September 1851 when he was appointed “Governor and Commander in Chief in and over Her Majesty’s forces and settlements and their dependencies on the Gold Coast.”

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Sarah Ann Munnings was the daughter of Chief Justice William Munnings, who came from an old Norfolk family. Her mother was a Bahamian, it was claimed, “of pirate blood” and who had a relative who sailed with the infamous pirate Blackbeard and was killed at sea. 

Sarah Ann and Stephen were married in Nassau, by the Rev Strachan in 1830 when he was 21 and she was 14. This was however on her father’s stipulation that they should not “live together” for six years. 

They seem to have honoured this as their first child, William, was born in 1836 and christened at St Andrew’s, Surrey in Jamaica. We also know that Rev Strachan was a friend of Rev Daniel Darnell of Welton and his son, William Strachan, was registered as one of Darnell’s pupils at his school in what is now The Stone House, Welton.

Tragically, two months after William was born, Sarah Ann’s parents were drowned at sea by pirates whilst on their way to visit their new grandson. This may explain Stephen’s ruthless pursuit of pirates off the Gold Coast, West Africa later in his life. 

At this point in his career Hill was a lieutenant in the West Indies Regiment.  The family appear to have moved to London in the late 1830s, living at 57 Baker Street in 1839 and, in 1840s, living at 64 George Street, London. 

We know that in addition to Louisa, Annie, Emily and Edmund the couple had at least 2 other children: William (born 1836, who came to Welton), and Mary (born 1841). In total the Hills had nine surviving children.

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The Welton connection

It is believed that Sarah came to Welton for several reasons: to recuperate from colonial living and childbirth, as well as to recover from the bereavement following the deaths of at least two of her children. In the late 1840s Stephen Hill was pursuing pirates in West Africa. It is believed that her choice of Welton was in part due to personal association (Rev Strachan) and the proximity of shared acquaintances (Rev Daniel Darnell). 

She wanted her son to be educated with other friends and associates from the West Indies and so moved into The Firs, Welton. Her son, William, lodged with Rev Darnell in The Cottage (now the Stone House).  Here he is on the 1851 census for the Stone House.

Stephen Hill almost certainly visited her here, as their son Edmund Stephen Hill was born and baptised in Welton. 

Hills’ career, his military and political successes, were widely reported in newspapers across the globe including the Worcester Journal, the Birmingham Gazette, the New York Times to name but three! On Oct 2^nd 1869 The Morning Post (Canada) reported from the London Gazette of the day before:

Sarah Ann’s life however was far from the pomp and circumstance of her husband’s. She may have spent time with him in his posting to Sierra Leone (between 1854-1863) as evidence suggests they both lived at Government House there. However, she returned to England at some point where, tragically, in 1869 she went prematurely senile and died shortly afterwards.

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Hill’s life after Sarah

In Newfoundland, Hill supported confederation with Canada and was disappointed when in 1869 the election gave the anti-confederacy the majority in the assembly. This aside he was a popular governor and re-married on 17^th February 1873 to Louisa Gordon and went on to father yet another child: on March 19^th, 1875, in St John’s Newfoundland, the birth was recorded of Florence Inez Hill, her father listed as Governor.

 Colonel Sir Stephen Hill retired to London in 1876 where he lived at 72 Sutherland Avenue, Maida Vale. His death on October 20^th, 1891, aged 82, was announced in The Times. Probate was granted to his widow, Dame Louisa Gordon Hill of the same address. His personal estate was £184 11S 6d (equivalent: £27- 30K today).

The Hills are just a small part of the story of the Firs. You can find out more here.