Rowland Hill (MP)

Sir Rowland Hill (Hyll or Hylle or Hull or Hall) of Soulton (c. 1495–1561), was the publisher of the Geneva Bible,^[1] thereby earning the title "The First Protestant Lord Mayor of London", having held that office in 1549. He was a statesman, polymath, merchant and patron of art and philanthropist active through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. He is associated with the recovery and development of Tudor English drama^[2] a generation before Shakespeare, and events that Hill was involved in may have shaped one or more Shakespearean characters.^[3][4]

Quick Facts Sir, Lord Mayor of London ...

Sir Rowland Hill
Portrait of Sir Rowland Hill of Soulton
Publisher of the Geneva Bible, Lord Mayor of London, Member of the Privy Council, Member of Parliament, Sheriff of the City of London, Member of the Council of Wales and the Marches, Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers,
Lord Mayor of London
In office 1549–1549
Monarch	Edward VI
Preceded by	Sir Henry Amcotes
Succeeded by	Sir Andrew Judde
Sheriff of London
In office 1542–1542
Monarch	Henry VIII
Personal details
Born	?1498 Hodnet, Shropshire
Died	28 or 29 October 1561 London
Resting place	St Stephen Walbrook, London 51°30′45.46″N 0°5′23.71″W
Relations	Viscount Hill Sir Rowland Hill

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As a political operator, he has been said to have been "influential at the highest level".^[5][6][7]

Rowland Hill was born of an ancient Shropshire family (first recorded as 'de Hull' and 'de la Hull'), with connections to Court of Hill near Hope Bagot and Burford.^[8]

He was born at Hodnet, Shropshire about 1495. He was the eldest son of Thomas Hill and Margaret Wilbraham, daughter of Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey, Cheshire.^[9][10] He had a younger brother, William (a priest),^[11] and four sisters, Agnes, Joan, Jane and Elizabeth.^[12][13]

Hill was born around the same time as George Vernon of Hodnet (died 1555)^[14] whose grand daughter Elizabeth married Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton,^[15] who have both been suggested as muses for Shakespeare's sonnets.^[16][17]

He was apprenticed to a London mercer, Thomas Kitson, obtaining his freedom of the Company in 1519.^[9]

In 1538, Hill, along with Sir Ralph Waryn and Mr Lock (likely William Lock) invested in cargo in the George Mody; she never reached her port of destination, because Norwegian pirates pillaged her, with correspondence between Thomas Thacker to Cromwell recording:

One Mody's ship, with goods of merchants of London, "from the mart," is taken by pirates of Norway, to the loss to Sir Ralph Waryn, good Mr. Lock, Rowland Hyll, and others, of 10,000.^[18]

Complaint was made to Thomas Cromwell was invoked to obtain letters from Henry VIII to the kings of Denmark, France and Scotland that search might be made. The loss to Hill and his coventurers was £10,000.^[19] The ship was recovered but not the cargo.^[20]

Hill was prominent in the affairs of the Mercers' Company. He was warden between 1535–6, and between 1543–4 and 1550–51 and 1555–6. His membership of the Mercers overlapped with Francis Wren, grandfather of Christopher Wren.^[21]

As Lord Mayor of London Hill was noted in contemporary records for relaxing the regulation of theatre in the city.^[57][58]

Hill was involved, with his friend and fellow lord mayor Sir Thomas Gresham, in revival of the Marching Watch or Mid Summer Watches in London. In these pageants 15,000 citizens all in bright harness, with coats of white silk or cloth, and chains of gold, passed through London to Westminster, and round St. James's Park, and on to Holborn.^[59]

Hill's involvement is recorded in Lady Long's household-book at Hengrave, Suffolk, which notes that Henry VIII watched these marches from Mercers Hall with Jane Seymour; "the presence of more than 300 demi lunces and light horsemen" were a particular highlight.^[60]

Hill was a cousin by marriage to Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother.^[61][62] He was a friend of Thomas Lodge, who witnessed his purchase of the manor of Soulton in 1556.^[63] It is possible that "To Rowland"^[64] (an alias also used by Michael Drayton) in Lodge's A fig for Momus (Eclogue 3) is addressed to Hill. It has also been speculated^[65][66] that Rowland Hill is inspiration for Rowland de Bois in As You Like It^[67][68][69] and his house at Soulton was conceived of as a theatre.^[70][71][72]

In 1541–42, he was elected sheriff of the City of London, and is recorded as being hosted by the incumbent Lord Mayor and provided with "a great stagge and tow fatt buckes".^[73] by the king as he entered this office. From 28–30 March 1542, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on the orders of the House of Commons,^[73] as a result of his 'abuse' of the Sergeant of Parliament sent to secure the release of George Ferrers, a member of parliament imprisoned for debt in the Bread Street Counter. King Henry VIII, took the side of the House of Commons in this case of member's privilege; however, he showed favour to Hill shortly after the affair by knighting him on 18 May 1542.^[73] He witnessed the surrender of St Bartholomew's to Sir Richard Rich in 1539.^[74]

In the wake of the coup d'état against Protector Somerset, Hill took over as Lord Mayor for the year beginning in November 1549. This was a period of substantial religious uncertainty, but he oversaw some of the critical changes in the direction of godly Protestantism, including the removal of altars. Nevertheless, in 1549, as mayor at the height of the iconoclasm of the reformation, he adjusted the route his Lord Mayors day procession and said a de profundis at the tomb of St Erkenwald.^[75]

He was a close friend of Sir Thomas Bromley (a member of the Regency Council appointed for the minority or Edward VI) and was given a token under the will of that statesman.^[76] Of his conduct in office as Lord Mayor it was said "this mayor was a good minister of justice".^[77]

His mayoralty witnessed a determined campaign against moral offences, the wardmote inquests being required in April 1550 to make fresh presentments of ill rule, 'upon which indictments the lord mayor sat many times'.^[78]

In the summer of 1553 John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (a colleague of Hill's on the Council of Wales and the Marches) had attempted to place Jane Grey on the throne and was defeated by a rebellion in favour of Mary, and the executed as a traitor.^[79][80]

Hill was one of the city's representatives in the first parliament of Queen Mary's reign (October–December 1553), temporarily replacing Sir Martin Bowe (a Catholic); with Hill being regraded as a Protestant by many, this made Sir Robert Broke SL the only Catholic MP from London.^[81]

The London delegation to that Parliament was said to have attended the parliament with an entirely commercial agenda: toiling at legislation to regulate London's physicians, chandlers in both wax and tallow, leather tanners and bowling alleys, as well as a measure to deregulate the sale of wine.

Hill endured a short spell of disfavour under Mary and was dropped from the commissions of the peace for Middlesex and Shropshire in 1554.

He recovered the regime's confidence, however, and in March 1556, when the Henry Dudley conspiracy to depose Mary was discovered (leading to a series of trials for high treason at the Guildhall) he was commissioned as a justice for oyer and terminer^[82] (an assize judge), along with Sir William Garrard (that year's Lord Mayor) presiding), along with Sir Roger Cholmeley, and Mr Recorder Sir Ralph Cholmley.^[83] In June Sir John Gresham of Titsey took the place of Hill on the bench for the indictment of Silvestra Butler, in the same matter.^[84]

Hill received, from Queen Mary two bucks of the season out of the great park at Nonesuch, on behalf of the city of London, in 1557.^[85]

In 1557, when he was appointed a Commissioner^[86] Against Heretics the command for which gave:

full power and authority unto you, and three of you, to inquire... of all and singular heretical opinions...heretical and seditious book... against us, or either of us, or against the quiet governance and rule of our people and subjects, by books, lies, tales, or otherwise, in any county... [and] to search out and take into your hands and possessions, all manner of heretical and seditious books, letters, and writings, wheresoever they or any of them shall be found, as well in printers' houses and shops, as elsewhere, willing you and every of you to search for the same in all places, according to your discretions.

Intriguingly, this commission to collect such materials overlaps with the Geneva Bible project in which Hill was also involved. Nevertheless, later in the same year hearing the indictment of Sir Ralph Bagnall for treason.^[87]

Nevertheless, after the accession of Elizabeth he helped put into execution the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity.^[87]

It is remarkable and unique that Hill had commissions to seize prohibited books under both the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

Rowland Hill's protegee, Thomas Leigh, led the coronation procession and escorted the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I through the streets of London on the day of her coronation, and he continued as a Privy Councillor to the young Elizabeth I in the early years of the reign, to the extent he was appointed a Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Cases in 1559, alongside Matthew Parker,^[88] newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. The warrant established the commission stated;

having especial trust and confidence in your wisdoms and discretions, [We] have authorized, assigned, and appointed you to be our commissioners;^[2] and by these presents do give our full power... from time to time hereafter during our pleasure to inquire,... for all offences, misdoers, and misdemeanours done and committed and hereafter to be committed or done contrary to the tenor and effect of the said several acts and statutes and either of them, and also of all and singular heretical opinions, seditious books

A curious account survives of a rent payment ritual in London for the Merchant Taylors School in which Hill presided shortly before he died:

The xxx day of September my lord mayre and the althermen and the new shreyffes took ther barges at the iij cranes in the Vintre and so to Westmynster, and so into the Cheker, and ther took ther hoythe; and ser Rowland Hyll whent up, and master Hoggys toke ser Rowland Hyll a choppyng kneyf, and one dyd hold a whyt rod, and he with the kneyf cute the rod in sunder a-for all the pepull; and after to London to ther plases to dener, my lord mayre and all the althermen and mony worshiphulle men.^[89]

Hill's roots in Hodnet put him in the orbit of the Vernon family and the Stanley family^[90] which included Elizabeth Vernon who married Shakespeare's patron Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton.^[91]

Hill was a close friend of Sir John Gresham, who provided him with a black gown to attend his funeral^[92] and whose executor he was.^[93][94]

Hill was a "trusty friend" of Sir Thomas Seymour, and was given land at Hoxten for life under his will.^[95] It was said Hill "knew much of the intent and purpose" of Sir Thomas Seymour.^[96]

Bishop Ridley refers to Hill in his farewell his friendes in generall before his execution.^[97]

He was a member of the company of Merchant Adventurers.^[98]

Rowland Hill was a guest of the family at the burial of Sir Thomas Wriothesley.^[99]

He was left a piece of gold in the 1552 will of Chief Justice Sir Thomas Bromley (died 1555) ‘for a token of a remembrance for the old love and amity between him and me now by this my decease ended’.^[100] Hill was chief overseer to the Will of William Lok (ancestor of the philosopher John Locke).^[101]

He was an overseer for the will of Sir George Barne, who was Lord Mayor at the death of Edward VI.^[102]

Hill had a reputation for charitable virtue. In 1555 he established a school at Market Drayton in Shropshire. He was also closely involved with the establishment of the London hospitals. He was the first president of Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals from 1557 to 1558 and again between 1559 and 1561, and he held the post of surveyor-general of the London hospitals from 1559 until his death. Along with Sir Martin Bowes, he prepared, in 1557, The Order of the Hospitals of King Henry the viijth, and King Edward the vjth, viz. St. Bartholomew, Christ's, Bridewell, St. Thomas's. By the Maior, Commonaltie, and Citizens of LONDON; Governours of the Possessions, Revenues, and Goods of the sayd Hospitals, Anno 1557."^[103]

Among Sir Rowland's civic and charitable works are to be found, with a focus in Shropshire in particular:^[104]

• the building in Atcham on the River Tern a new bridge in stone, along with two further timber bridges
• annually clothing 300 of the poor
• repairing Stoke church
• a dole to the poor of London

He also supported schools, the Bethlem asylum and the new Bridewell hospital.^[105] In 1557 the administration of Bethlem Royal Hospital became the responsibility of the Bridewell Governors. The post of President was established, with first occupant being Hill.^[106]

Hill shared his prominent role in the establishment of hospitals with Richard Grafton, who also had Shropshire heritage,^[107] and who was instrumental in printing the Great Bible.^[108]

Hill was also involved in the establishment of early labour exchanges and poverty relief.^[109]

He was founded exhibitions, and educated many students at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and supported scholars at the Inns of Court.^[110]

Hill engaged in building during his life. The buildings he constructed were conceptually sophisticated. The surviving Soulton Hall corps de logistics is understood to be constructed in elaborate codes,^[111] and is thought to have been copied by Francis Bacon when he built Verulam House. It is further thought that the construction of Soulton Hall (with its lost pyramidal roof) is done to represent a Holy Almandal^{[clarification needed]}.^[112]

As part of his activities in London he bought a mansion house in Frederick's place in 1546, which he interconnected with Mercers Hall and its chapel.^[113] Within these buildings, during this period, an important statue of Christ was secretly hidden - it is likely this was done with Hill's knowledge.^[114]

A contemporary said of Sir Rowland:

"Wheresoever a good dede was to be done for the common weal of his countrymen, he was ready to further the cause."^[115]

Thomas Fuller recorded that on his death he "Forg[ave] his Tenants a years Rent. Also enjoyning his Heirs, to make them new Leases of one and twenty years, for two years Rent" and concluded of him:

I have heard the natives of this County confess and complain of a comparative dearth (in proportion to other Shires) of Benefactors to the publick. But sure, Shropshire is like to the Mulberry, which putteth forth his leaves last of all Trees, but then maketh such speed, (as sensible of his slowness with an ingenious shame) that it over∣taketh those trees in Fruit, which in Leaves started long before it. As this Shire of late hath done affording two of the same surname still surviving, who have dipp'd their hands so deep in charitable morter.^[116]

Hill's charity had a stern edge, with the epitaph on his monument stating that he also enjoyed a reputation as 'a foe to vice and a vehement corrector',

A friend to virtue, a lover of learning,

A foe to vice and vehement corrector,

A prudent person, all truth supporting,

A citizen sage, and worthy counsellor,

A love of wisdom, of justice a furtherer,

Lo here his corps lieth, Sir Rowland Hill by name,

Of London late Lord Mayor and Alderman of same.^[13]

Archer credits Rowland Hill among a series of mid-century mayors who were "stern moralists,"^[117] Hill's credentials as an "anti-corruption campaigner" themes which were noted in the 2021 North Shropshire by-election, on account of his manor being used extensively during that campaign.^[118]

He died 28 October 1561 of strangury, according to the diary of Henry Machyn, and was buried at St Stephen Walbrook on 5 November.^[9] Sir Thomas Offley was among the leading mourners at the funeral.^[119]

An at least life size statue of him was put up in the church with him holding Magna Carta,^[120] a document signed for King John (a document which was negotiated by a forebear of Sir Rowland’s in the office of Lord Mayor, Serlo the Mercer, third Lord Mayor of London).^[121]

A contemporary account of his funeral was as follows:

The v day of November was bered in sant Stephen's in Walbroke ser Rowland Hylle, latt mare and altherman and mercer and knyght, with a standard and v pennons of armes, and a cott armur and a helmet, a crest, sword, and mantyll, and xj dosen of skochyons of armes; and he gayff a c. gownes and cottes to men and women; and ther wher ij haroldes of armes, master Clarenshux and master Somersett, and my lord mayre morner, the cheyff morner; ser Recherd Lee, master Corbett, with dyvers odur morners, ser Wylliam Cordell, ser Thomas Offeley, ser Martens Bowes and master Chamburlan althermen, and the ij shreyffes, and master Chambur . . and master Blakewell, with mony mo morners, and a 1. pore men in good blake gownes, besyd women; and the dene of Powlles mad the sermon; and after all done my lord mayre and mony and althermen whent to the Mercers' (fn. 48) hall and the craft to dener, and the resedu to ys plase to dener, and grett mon mad (fn. 49) for ys deth, and he gayff myche to the pore.^[122]

There is a sixteenth century bust of him in the building occupied by the school he founded in Market Drayton.^[126]

There is a statue of him on a pillar in Hawkstone Park in Shropshire.^[127] This monument, known as "The Obelisk" is on a column of 110 feet,^[128] and was :

a copy from an ancient monument, which before the fire of London stood in the church of St. Stephens Walbrook^[129]

The text originally on the Hawkstone pillar read as follows:

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE HAD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE.-Psalm cxi. 6.

The first stone of this Pillar was laid by Sir Richard Hill, Bart. Member in several Parliaments for this County, on the 1st day of October, in the year 1795; who caused it to be erected, not only for the various uses of an Observatory, and to feast the eye, by presenting to it at one view, a most luxuriant and ex-tensive prospect, which takes in not less than twelve (or, as some assert, fifteen) counties; but from mo-tives of justice, respect, and gratitude to the memory of a truly great and good man, viz. Sir Rowland Hill, Knt. who was born at the family mansion of Hawkstone, in the reign of King Henry the Seventh, and being bred to trade, and free of the city of London, became one of the most considerable and opulent merchants of his time, and was Lord Mayor of the same, in the second and third years of Edward the Sixth, anno 1549 and 1550, and was the first Protestant who filled that high office. Having embraced the principles of the Reformation, he zealously exerted himself in behalf of the Protestant cause, and having been diligent in the use of all religious exercises, prayerful, conscientious, and watchful (as a writer of his character expresses it), yet trusting only in the merits of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, he exchanged his life for a better, a short while after the death of that pious young monarch, being aged nearly seventy years. For a considerable time previous to his decease, he gave up his mercantile occupations, that he might with more devotedness of heart attend to the great concerns of another world. His lands, possessions, and church patronage, were im-mense; particularly in the counties of Salop and Chester; the number of his tenants (none of whom he ever raised or fined) amounting to one thousand one hundred and eighty-one, as appears from his own handwriting. But his private virtues, good deeds, and munificent spirit, were quite unlimited, and extended-like the prospect before us, East, West, North, and South, far surpassing all bounds. "Being sensible," saith Fuller (speaking of him in his "Worthies of England"), "that "his great estate was given him of God," it was his desire to devote it to his glory. He built a spacious church in his own parish of Hodnet, and likewise the neighbouring church of Stoke, at his own expense. He built Tern and Atcham Bridges in this county, both of hewn stone, and containing several arches each. He also built other large bridges of timber. He built and endowed several Free Schools, particularly that of Drayton. He made and paved divers highways for the public utility. He founded exhibitions, and educated many students at both Universities, and supported at the Inns of Court others who were brought up to the Law. He was the unwearied friend of the widow and the fatherless. He clothed annually three hundred poor people in his own neighbourhood, both with shirts and coats; and in the city of London he gave £500 (an immense sum in those days) to St. Bartholomew's hospital, besides (saith Fuller) £600 to Christ Church hospital. He also gave most liberally to all other hospitals, and at his death bequeathed £150 to the poor of all the Wards in London. He had no children, but his relations and kinsfolk were numerous, who all partook largely of his bounty, both in his lifetime and at his death. He constantly kept up a great family household, where hi maintained good hospitality. Many resorted to him for his wise and salutary advice; and none who came to him were ever sent empty or dissatisfied away.

Go and do thou likewise, as far as thy ability will permit, without injury to thy own relations.

To suffer such a character to sink into oblivion, would be in the highest degree ungrateful, as well as injurious to posterity, for whose imitation it is held up.^[110]

The identity of Hill's wife, whom he had married by 1542, is unknown. She died during the year of his mayoralty, and since there were no children of the marriage, his heir was his brother, William, parson of Stoke on Tern; however he left property to the children of his four sisters:^[12][13]

• Agnes Hill, who married John Cowper, esquire.^[13]
• Joan Hill, who married George Dormayne, esquire.^[13]
• Jane Hill, who married John Gratewood (died 8 August 1570), esquire, of Wollerton, Shropshire, the son of William Gratwood by Mary Newport, daughter of Thomas Newport of High Ercall, Shropshire, by whom she had a son, William Gratwood, who married Mary Newport, the daughter of Sir Richard Newport (died 1570) of High Ercall; Alice Gratewood (died 1603), who married the justice Reginald Corbet; and Margaret Gratwood, who married Thomas Jones (born 1550) of Chilton.^{[13][130][131][9][132]}
• Elizabeth Hill, who married John Barker of Haughmond in Shropshire, esquire.^[13]

Another of his heiresses being Alice Barker alias Coverdale wife of Sir Thomas Leigh (who had been Hill's business junior and was also Lord Mayor of London), descendents of whom are Dukes of Marlborough, Viscount Melbourne (the Premier) and later Dukes of Leeds.^[133] Hill has a new grant of arms issued to him, despite his family having an ancient right to arms which as,^[8] and these arms were specially granted to his hiers who were not issue of his body.^[134] The new arms specially created for him have a noticeable likenes to the arms of the Adren family,^[56] but the new arms repeated the castle device used on the arms of the family from at least the reign of Richard II.^[8]

Within All Souls, Oxford University the arms of Hill appear in the colonnade of the Great Quadrangle, opposite the arms of Robert Boyle.^[135]

There are 16th-century portraits of Hill in the Museum of London and in the Mercers' Hall in Ironmongers' Lane, as well as at Attingham Park^[136] and Tatton Park.^[137] The last of these was exhibited in 1897 at Manchester City Art Gallery in a show called "The royal house of Tudor".^[138]

These portraits have French texts Inscribed as follows, at the top:

ADIEU MONDE PUIS QUE TV DESCORS TOUT INFAMS…TOUT CHASTES TOUT A LA FIN ORLIVES TOUT.

and are inscribed below in Latin:

ROVLANDVS HILL . Miles Salopienfis vir bonus & fapiens quondam Maior Civilitatis Londini ac digniffimus Confull cruidem exiftens Qui auctoritatem opibu… / temporibus Regum Henrici octavi & Edwardi fexti florens diuerfas terras praedia ac poffessiones per qui fiuit eaq omnia falua conscientia abiq omni aliorum iniuria v… / damno Qualam fenescate ac in vltima aetatem vergente a rebus acquiredis prari abfinuit ac fuaforta contet fibi quieti vixit neq plura optabat. Multa preferia preclara / magna u..bat fanillia Bona que acquifiuifs et Liberaliter impendil Pauperib dedii, Scotafticis in vtrag academia exhibuit Leguleos aluit atq inalios pios vfus erogaui… / liberos fufcepit nullos ideog terras poffesionefq fuas inter cognates ac confang vinios diuifet Breuiter tanta pictate claruit quod fama faeta extendebat / reliquamq vitam fuani vigiliis timare ac contemplatione contenuit, ad honorem fummi dei ac in perpetuam lui nomins gloriam.

Of the many lands Hill secured at the dissolution, it is noteworthy that they secured those included St Chad’s Church Norton-in-Hales,^[139][140] The Cotton family originated at Alkington near Wem and William Cotton, a citizen and draper of London eas Sir Roland Hill’s agent^[141] in Shropshire,^[142] and their proximity to Hill would facilitate their rise, with one of their family, Allan Cotton, serving as Lord Mayor in 1625.^[143]

Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington was also of this family:^[144] he held the Cotton Library prior to it being acquired by the British Museum, and then the British Library.^[145]

Jane Austen is related to Hill via one of his heiresses, Alice Barker and his protégée^[146] Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh.^{[147][148][149][150][151]} In this same line is Catherine Leigh, wife of the Gunpowder Plot conspirator Robert Catesby.^[152]

This line also links Hill by family to the Arden Family of Mary Shakespeare née Arden, mother of William Shakespeare; this happens when Elizabeth Corbett (born 1551), Hill's great niece and heiress, marries Robert Arden of Park Hall, West Bromwich (born 1553) in the 1580s; Robert was a second cousin of Mary's. Robert was the son of Edward Arden.^[153]

Via his cousin Thomas Bromley, the Tudor Lord Chancellor, he is related to Sir Oliver Cromwell, uncle of the Lord Protector.

A charity in Hill's name is still in operation.^[154][155]