Arthur Hill, 8th Marquess of Downshire
Encyclopedia
Arthur Robin Ian Hill, 8th Marquess of Downshire (10 May 1929 – 18 December 2003), known as Robin Hill, was an Irish peer and the Hereditary Constable of Hillsborough Fort. He was the only son of Lord Arthur Francis Hill. He successfully re-established his Ulster
-based landowning family in North Yorkshire
following the Irish Land Acts
and Bracknell New Town that had largely deprived them of their original estates.
As a youth Robin Hill was taught the oboe
by Leon Goossens
. At Eton College
he captained the school shooting VIII and led it win the Asburton Shield at Bisley. On leaving school, he did his National Service
with the Royal Scots Greys in Germany
from 1948 to 1950. Life in Ardingly
, a discount house and chartered accountancy
followed, with awards of ACA in 1959 and FCA 1962. In 1963 he took up farming.
The Irish domains and the Berkshire estate with its 1870s retro-Jacobean Burne-Jones and Morris windowed mansion
at Easthampstead
had both become alienated and sold. His predecessors had not found alternatives, so the young Hill, now in possession of a wife and heir, was in need of a seat.
He found Clifton Castle, near Masham
, North Yorkshire
, of which Pevsner had written: 'built in 1802–10, and not at all in the castle mood'.
In March 1989 Hill succeeded his uncle to his seven peerages: four of Ireland and three of Great Britain. The need to satisfy the Treasury immediately led Downshire, as he was now known, into a mild controversy. The 2nd Marquess had married the heir of the last Trumbull. This inheritance included the Easthampstead estate, near Bracknell, west of Windsor, and with it the Trumbull papers. These comprised 380 volumes of manuscripts collected by Sir William Trumbull
(1639–1716), British Ambassador to Paris
, and to Constantinople
, and his grandson William Trumbull, British Resident in Brussels. The archive – featuring letters by Stuart kings, Philip II of Spain
, Marie de' Medici
, Bacon, Donne
, Dryden, Fenton, Alexander Pope
and Georg Rudolf Weckherlin
– had been on loan to Berkshire Record Office
. In the summer of 1989 the collection was sent to Sotheby's
in London, divided into 63 lots and prepared for sale, with an estimate of £2.5m. Breakup was avoided as on the eve of the November sale the auction was cancelled and the British Library
took the papers.
in November 1989, he joined the Conservative
benches. A member of the Lords bridge-team, he was a rare speaker, but had become increasingly more attentive. By the time of his expulsion in 1999, he was the most attentive of the seven Irish Marquesses. In ten years in the Lords he made two speeches and laid down one written question. His maiden speech, made in October 1994, was part of a debate taking note of 'recent developments in Northern Ireland'.
In reply for the Opposition, the late Lord Williams of Mostyn
said of it: '.. I hope I may, with respect, point to one, the maiden speech of the noble Marquess, Lord Downshire, a speech which I personally found to be of interest and of great content, both of which are adjectives one cannot normally ascribe to maiden speeches.'
He said: '... it would be fair to say that Ireland as a whole, as other noble Lords have said, has had a turbulent history and that fact has been emphasised by its continuance in Ulster. There are a multiplicity of reasons for that phenomenon, although some try to award part of the blame to the equivocal manner in which Ireland has been treated successively by England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. I would not subscribe entirely to that view, although I believe that, in establishing a link between England and Ireland, fundamental mistakes were made at the start which are taking many centuries to resolve ... [T]here is no doubt that the joint declaration marks a sea change in contemporary Irish politics. The opportunity it affords for all who hold both the Province and Ireland as a whole most dear they will ignore at their peril.'
In a debate entitled 'Pylons in the Vale of York' of March 1995, he pointed to new problems regarding public-private finance, landowners and compulsory purchase
: 'there could come a time, and it will surely come, when the pylon-builders' purse runs out and compulsory purchase arrives. Surely, there then arises a more potent conflict of interest-the invocation of public power in order to provide private profit.' This was notably astute, as the private profit in this case was to be Enron
's. His one written question referred to the "Targets of the Pesticides" safety-directive.
.
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
-based landowning family in North Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
following the Irish Land Acts
Irish Land Acts
The Land Acts were a series of measures to deal with the question of peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by the government of the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909...
and Bracknell New Town that had largely deprived them of their original estates.
Life
Hill was born in Brompton Square, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
As a youth Robin Hill was taught the oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
by Leon Goossens
Léon Goossens
Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM was a British oboist.He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music...
. At Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
he captained the school shooting VIII and led it win the Asburton Shield at Bisley. On leaving school, he did his National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
with the Royal Scots Greys in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
from 1948 to 1950. Life in Ardingly
Ardingly
Ardingly is a village and civil parish in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty about north of Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. The village is about south of London, south-south-west of East Grinstead, southeast of Crawley, north of Brighton and ...
, a discount house and chartered accountancy
Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...
followed, with awards of ACA in 1959 and FCA 1962. In 1963 he took up farming.
The Irish domains and the Berkshire estate with its 1870s retro-Jacobean Burne-Jones and Morris windowed mansion
Easthampstead Park
Easthampstead Park is a Victorian mansion in the civil parish of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is currently a conference centre.-Location:...
at Easthampstead
Easthampstead
Easthampstead is today a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene...
had both become alienated and sold. His predecessors had not found alternatives, so the young Hill, now in possession of a wife and heir, was in need of a seat.
He found Clifton Castle, near Masham
Masham
Masham is a small market town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,235. Situated in Wensleydale on the western bank of the River Ure, the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon "Mæssa's Ham", the homestead belonging to Mæssa. The Romans had...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, of which Pevsner had written: 'built in 1802–10, and not at all in the castle mood'.
In March 1989 Hill succeeded his uncle to his seven peerages: four of Ireland and three of Great Britain. The need to satisfy the Treasury immediately led Downshire, as he was now known, into a mild controversy. The 2nd Marquess had married the heir of the last Trumbull. This inheritance included the Easthampstead estate, near Bracknell, west of Windsor, and with it the Trumbull papers. These comprised 380 volumes of manuscripts collected by Sir William Trumbull
William Trumbull
Sir William Trumbull was an English statesman who held high office as a member of the First Whig Junto.-Biography:...
(1639–1716), British Ambassador to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, and his grandson William Trumbull, British Resident in Brussels. The archive – featuring letters by Stuart kings, Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
, Bacon, Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
, Dryden, Fenton, Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
and Georg Rudolf Weckherlin
Georg Rudolf Weckherlin
Georg Rudolf Weckherlin was a German poet. He was among the poets before Martin Opitz who tried to introduce Renaissance forms and feelings into German verse. For a short time, he worked with John Milton in England....
– had been on loan to Berkshire Record Office
Berkshire Record Office
The Berkshire Record Office is the county record office for Berkshire, England. It is located in Reading. The Berkshire Record Office opened on 10 August 1948.-Further reading:...
. In the summer of 1989 the collection was sent to Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
in London, divided into 63 lots and prepared for sale, with an estimate of £2.5m. Breakup was avoided as on the eve of the November sale the auction was cancelled and the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
took the papers.
Experiences in House of Lords
Taking his seat in the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in November 1989, he joined the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
benches. A member of the Lords bridge-team, he was a rare speaker, but had become increasingly more attentive. By the time of his expulsion in 1999, he was the most attentive of the seven Irish Marquesses. In ten years in the Lords he made two speeches and laid down one written question. His maiden speech, made in October 1994, was part of a debate taking note of 'recent developments in Northern Ireland'.
In reply for the Opposition, the late Lord Williams of Mostyn
Gareth Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn
Gareth Wyn Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn, PC, QC, was a Welsh barrister and Labour politician who was Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council and a member of the Cabinet at the time of his sudden death in 2003.Williams was born near Prestatyn, in North Wales, a son of...
said of it: '.. I hope I may, with respect, point to one, the maiden speech of the noble Marquess, Lord Downshire, a speech which I personally found to be of interest and of great content, both of which are adjectives one cannot normally ascribe to maiden speeches.'
He said: '... it would be fair to say that Ireland as a whole, as other noble Lords have said, has had a turbulent history and that fact has been emphasised by its continuance in Ulster. There are a multiplicity of reasons for that phenomenon, although some try to award part of the blame to the equivocal manner in which Ireland has been treated successively by England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. I would not subscribe entirely to that view, although I believe that, in establishing a link between England and Ireland, fundamental mistakes were made at the start which are taking many centuries to resolve ... [T]here is no doubt that the joint declaration marks a sea change in contemporary Irish politics. The opportunity it affords for all who hold both the Province and Ireland as a whole most dear they will ignore at their peril.'
In a debate entitled 'Pylons in the Vale of York' of March 1995, he pointed to new problems regarding public-private finance, landowners and compulsory purchase
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
: 'there could come a time, and it will surely come, when the pylon-builders' purse runs out and compulsory purchase arrives. Surely, there then arises a more potent conflict of interest-the invocation of public power in order to provide private profit.' This was notably astute, as the private profit in this case was to be Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
's. His one written question referred to the "Targets of the Pesticides" safety-directive.
Marriages
In 1957 he married Juliet Weld-Forester, a daughter of the 7th Baron Forester. She died in 1986. In 1989 he married Diana Hibbert, a daughter of Sir Ronald Hibbert Cross, Bt. She died in 1998. He married thirdly Tessa Prain in 2003.Death
He died on 18 December 2003, aged 74, survived by his two sons and one daughter by his first marriage, and by his third wife. His elder son, who till now used the courtesy title of Earl of Hillsborough, succeeds him and also becomes heir presumptive to the 7th Baron SandysBaron Sandys
Baron Sandys is a title that has been created three times, once in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom....
.