Hill, Rosalind Mary Theodosia

14 November 1908 – 11 January 1997

Rosalind Hill was born in the Wirral to Norman Hill, a prominent shipping lawyer, and his wife Mary. After reading history at St Hilda’s, Oxford, she went on to gain a B Litt, researching ecclesiastical letter books of the 13th century. She taught briefly at University College, Leicester before moving, in 1937, to Westfield College (University of London) where she spent the rest of her working life, being appointed Reader in 1955 and Professor in 1971. Her research interests focused on medieval bishops’ registers and the Crusades. Professor Hill took an active interest in the Institute of Historical Research and in the Ecclesiastical Society, of which she was secretary and ultimately, president.

In 1906 her parents built a holiday cottage, ‘Green Place’, at Stockbridge, Hampshire, and by 1920 it had been enlarged to become a family home. It was around this time that her father – Arthur Norman Hill (by now knighted and a baronet) became Lord of the Manor. A keen historian, he reinstated the ancient Courts Baron and Leet (confirming grazing rights etc). With his death and that of his son, Norman Gray Hill, in 1944, the responsibility of presiding over the annual ceremonies fell to Rosalind Hill. This appealed to her vivid sense of history and, some years later, saw her investigate the origins and fortune of both manor and borough. The house and lands were gifted to the National Trust in 1947 but subsequently returned to private hands.

Sources

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

St Hilda’s College Report and Chronicle (1997-98) pp137-142

Portrait

Rosalind Hill

Contribution to county’s history

Along with a general interest in medieval church history and the Crusades, Rosalind Hill wrote about the Borough and Manor of Stockbridge, as well as aspects of parochial history in Hampshire.

Relevant published works

Hill R 1966. The Stockbridge Elections Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc Vol 23, pp 120-127
Hill R 1976a, The Manor of Stockbridge, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc Vol 32, pp 93-101
Hill R 1976b, Some Parish Boundaries in Hampshire, in P H Sawyer (ed) Medieval Settlement: Continuity and Change pp 61-65, London.
Hill R 1977, The Origin of the Borough of Stockbridge, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc Vol 33, pp 79-88.