John Hill (courtier)

Major-General John "Jack" Hill (died 22 June 1735) was a British army officer and courtier during the reign of Queen Anne. While of no particular military ability, his family connections brought him promotion and office until the end of Anne's reign.

Jack, as he was known, was the youngest son of the merchant Francis Hill and his wife Elizabeth Jenyns, and hence the brother of Abigail Hill, later Baroness Masham. The failure of his father's business left the family dependent upon the largesse of their cousin Sarah Churchill, later Duchess of Marlborough. Sarah paid for Hill's education at the St Albans Grammar School from 1690–1691, and obtained for him an appointment as a page to Prince George of Denmark in 1692 and then in 1698 as a Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester. After Gloucester's death, he briefly returned to Prince George's household in 1700.

The Duke of Marlborough obtained for Hill a captaincy in the Grenadier Guards in November 1702, and he was made adjutant general to the forces sent into Portugal in 1703. In May 1705, he was made colonel of the former Lord Stanhope's Regiment of Foot. This rapid rise owed little to military talent; while partly brought about through the patronage of Marlborough, it was increasingly due to the ascent of his sister Abigail, who was now displacing her cousin the Duchess in Anne's favour.

In 1706, he and his regiment took part in the expedition under Earl Rivers, originally directed against the coast of France but subsequently diverted to Lisbon. In 1707, Hill and the regiment were shipped to Valencia, to take part in the campaign which ended with the Battle of Almansa. Hill commanded a brigade during the battle, comprising his own regiment with William Steuart's and Thomas Alnutt's regiments. Hill's brigade attacked the French during the latter stages of the battle and allowed the remaining British forces to retreat in good order, but he and his regiment were captured by the French.

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