Hill

Hill, REV. ROWLAND, a popular but eccentric preacher, was born 12th August 1744, at Hawkeston, the sixth son of a Shropshire baronet. Whilst a student of St John's College, Cambridge, he fell under the influence of Whitefield, the Methodist preacher, and at once began to tread in his footsteps. All his life through Hill retained his passion for open-air preaching; and the first ten years after his ordination were spent in itinerant preaching throughout England. But having built for himself Surrey Chapel in Blackfriars Road, London, in 1783, he regularly preached there to his life's end; and, although a Dissenter, he used the services, and regarded himself as a member of the Church of England, of which he had indeed been ordained a deacon. It is said that the 'first Sunday-school in the metropolis was established by Rowland Hill soon after the opening of Surrey Chapel.' He died on 11th April 1833. Rowland Hill was undoubtedly eloquent and possessed a rich fund of genuine humour, but at times his manner verged upon buffoonery. His Village Dialogues (1801; 34th ed. 1839; latest ed. 1871) has been sold in large numbers. Besides this he wrote several pamphlets, as Imposture Detected (1777), Aphoristic Observations (1790), Spiritual Characteristics (1803; 3d ed. 1860), some volumes of Sermons, Hymns, and other works. See Lives by Sidney (1834), W. Jones (1834), Sherman (1857), Broome (1881), and Charlesworth (1876; 2d ed. 1886).