the blockade of Alexandria and Malta, and where, on 3 Sept. 1798, he managed, in one of the ship’s boats, to rescue the Captain and 7 men belonging to the French cutter L’Animona from the fury of the Arabs, who put to death all the remainder of the crew, originally 60 in number. Once, while on detached service in the Crucifix, an armed tender, Mr. Hillier had the misfortune to be wrecked, on the Maltese coast. For his subsequent conduct as Master’s Mate of the Pompée 74, Capt. Chas. Stirling, in Sir Jas. Saumarez’ action oif Algeciras 6 July, 1801, on which occasion he received a severe wound,[1] he was eventually promoted to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the San Antonio 74, Capt. Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, one of the prizes taken in the battle fought six days afterwards in the Gut of Gibraltar. Being confirmed, 8 Oct. following, into the Vanguard 74, he served for four years in that ship on the West India station under Capts. Sir Thos. Williams, Jas. Walker, Lord Wm. FitzRoy, Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, and Jas. Newman Newman – two years of the time as First-Lieutenant. He was consequently present at the capture, in 1803, of the French 74-gun ship Le Duquesne, and of La Créole, of 44 guns, with the French General Morgan and 530 troops on board; and he was for some time employed on shore at St. Marc’s, St. Domingo, where General de Henen and 1100 troops surrendered to him. On landing the latter at St. Nicolas Mole, he was sent with the General and a few prizes to Jamaica. On 4 June, 1806, Mr. Hillier was appointed to the Argo 44, Capt. Stephen Thos. Digby, in whose boats, during a servitude of nearly two years on the Coast of Africa, he was very constantly engaged. In May, 1808, on his arrival at Jamaica, he was under the necessity of going to the hospital at Port Royal, from which he was soon invalided and sent to England, where for a prolonged period of 10 weeks he was confined to the hospital at Deal. On his recovery, he was appointed, 21 Feb. 1809, First of the Royalist 18, Capts. John Maxwell and Geo. Downie; in the boats of which vessel, after attending the expedition to the Walcheren, he served off Calais, Boulogne, Estaples, Dieppe, and Havre, and proved instrumental to the capture of not fewer than 11 privateer luggers and a cutter. The manner in which he once, in Dec. 1811, destroyed a gun-boat, procured him the mention of Capt. Downie in two official letters. So extreme was the exertion undergone by Mr. Hillier while in the Royalist, that in the month of June, 1812, he was again obliged to be sent to the hospital. During the three years and a half he had been employed in her, she had had as many as six Second-Lieutenants, nearly all of whom had been obliged to leave from the same cause as was ultimately himself; and both her Captains, for service in which he participated, were promoted to Post-rank. His next and last appointments were to the command – 29 April and 30 Dec. 1813, of the El Corso and Defiance, lying (the latter as a prison-ship) at Graveaend and Chatham. His advancement to the rank he at present holds took place 7 June, 1814.
Commander Hillier’s health during the war became so shattered, that he has never since ceased to feel the effects of what he then underwent. During the whole term of his career afloat, he was never off duty, except when actually compelled to do so by illness. He was left a widower 19 June, 1844. Agents – Collier and Snee.
HILLIER. (Commander, 1824. f-p., 18; h-p., 42.)
George Hillier is brother of Commander C. W. Hillier, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1787, as a Volunteer, on board the Alfred 74, Capts. West, Harvey, and Bazely, employed on the Home station, where, on 1 June, 1794, he was present, as Midshipman, in Lord Howe’s action. Removing in the following Aug. to the Réunion 36, commanded in the North Sea by Capt. Jas. Alms, he took part in that ship, when in company with several others, in an obstinate fight, which terminated in the capture, 22 Aug. 1795, of one of three Dutch vessels – the Alliance 36. He continued to serve on the German Ocean in the Ardent 64, Capts. Rich. Rundell Burgess (under whom, who was killed, he shared in the glories of Camperdown) and Thos. Bertie, until Jan. 1798, on 16 of which month he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Alliance, armée en flûte, Capts. Davis, John Baker Hay, and David Wilmot. After participating with much credit in the defence of St. Jean d’Acre he became, 7 June, 1799, First Lieutenant of the Tigre 80, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith.[2] On the 8th, 13th, and 21st of March, 1801, Mr. Hillier was attached to the army under General Abercromby, and on those occasions he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of Sir Sidney, who was in command of the seamen on shore. At the close of the Egyptian campaign he was presented with the Turkish gold medal. In March, 1803, having quitted the Tigre in the previous Sept., he rejoined Sir W. S. Smith, again as Senior, on board the Antelope 50, stationed in the North Sea, where, on 16 May, 1804, he was present in a gallant attack made by a British squadron upon a division of the enemy’s flotilla passing along shore from Flushing to Ostend. Although at the time he was in an ill state of health, he afforded Sir Sidney, on the quarter-deck, all the assistance and support in his power.[3] He continued in the Antelope until June, 1805, and was lastly employed, as a Volunteer, with the fire-ships under Capt. Nicholas Tomlinson in the expedition of 1809 to the Scheldt. His promotion to the rank of Commander did not take place until 21 Jan. 1824.
HILLS. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 23; h-p., 32.)
George Hills, born 8 Nov. 1777, is only surviving son of Lieut. Wm. Hills, R.N., of Buckland, co. Kent, who perished when in command of H.M. cutter Mutine, in a heavy gale of wind, in Dec. of the same year; grandson of the late Admiral John Barker; and nephew of Capt. John Hills, R.N., who lost his life from yellow fever, at Jamaica, in 1794, while commanding the Hermione 32.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 June, 1792, as Captain’s Servant (under the auspices of his uncle, Capt. John Hills), on board the Bulldog 16, Capt. Geo. Hope, on the Mediterranean station. Accompanying the same Captain, in Aug. 1793, into L’Eclair 18, commanded next by Capt. Geo. Henry Towry, he served in that vessel at the ensuing occupation of Toulon; after which we find him (until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 17 July, 1798) employed for a few months in the Leviathan 74, Capt. Lord Hugh Seymour, and for four years, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Ranger 18, commanded on the Home station by Capts. Jas. Hardy and Chas. Campbell. He then joined L’Atalante 18, Capts. Digby Dent and Anselm John Griffiths, and was afterwards appointed, on the Channel, Irish, and Halifax stations – 6 May, 1799 to the Amethyst 36, Capts. John Cooke, Henry Rich. Glynn, Alex. Campbell, John Wm. Spranger, and Thos. Alexander – in the autumn of 1804 to the Dryad 36, Capts. John Giffard and Adam Drummond – 7 Dec. 1807, to the Swiftsure 74 bearing the flag of Sir John Borlase Warren – and, 28 Jan. 1808, to the Atalante 18, Capt. John Evans. During an attachment of more than five years to the Amethyst, Mr. Hills (besides assisting at the debarkation of the troops in the expedition of 1800 to Ferrol, and being employed in the conveyance of royal and diplomatic personages) contributed to the capture of three privateers, carrying 34 guns and 270 men, and was present at the taking 28 Jan. and 9 April, 1801, of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse, and national corvette Le
