Abraham Hill, F. R. S. (1635-1722)

Abstract

Abraham Hill´s claim to remembrance is founded not on contributions to the advancement of knowledge (for he made none), but on his services to the Royal Society and to the Board of Trade, where his administrative and business abilities were exercised. Since he did not acquire fame in any other sphere o f life, little information is to be found in contemporary records about him. He was descended from a family that had its roots in the county of Devon (1). His father, Richard Hill, a cordwainer established in Lime Street in the City of London (2), became a prosperous merchant, who was one of the Committee for the Safety of the Kingdom set up at the Guildhall, London, on 14 November 1642; who was one of the Treasurers of Sequestrations at the Guildhall; who was one of the Commissioners for Prizes taken in the Dutch war (3); who became alderman of Candlewick ward of the City of London (1654) (4), and Master of the Cordwainers’ Company (1655) (5). Abraham Hill was the eldest son of this Richard by his wife Agnes; he was bom in London, and baptized 16 June 1635 (6). The statement, that he received no more than an ordinary schooling (7), is probably correct, for his name does not appear in any of the published registers of well-known London schools flourishing at that time; moreover, he is said to have been brought up by his father as a merchant. It seems likely that he became a merchant speculating in foreign trade (8), though his name is not identifiable in the London Directory of 1677. No mention of him has been noticed by the present writer in the records of the Cordwainers’ Company, and if he were admitted to any other City company, the fact has yet to be discovered.