Person:Robert Hill (49)

Sir Robert HILL of Shilston was brought up to the law. In 1400 he was appointed Serjeant to King Henry IV and about nine years after was advanced to the office of one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas. He continued in this position under Henry V and Henry Vi. Robert possessed a great estate, including properties in Devon, Stafford and Kent, which remained in the family for about 9 generations until it was disposed of by Robert Hill Esq and his son, Edward. Sir John Hill, his contemporary, who was born at Hill's Court in the suburbs of Exeter, was similarly brought up in the law and also was a Serjeant (1382-3) and in 1400 became one of the Judges of the Court of the King' Bench. The connection between these families, if any, has not yet been found. It has been written that the family was a noble family of Norman extraction and was called de la Montagne. They have resided in Devon and Stafford from a very early period. In the reign of Edward III they were styled Hill alias de la Montagne and in succeeding aged retained only the name Hill.

1.   Vivian, J. L. (John Lambrick), and Henry H Drake. The visitation of the county of Cornwall, in the year 1620. (London: [Harleian Society], 1874)
   page 229.
2.   Collins, Arthur. Peerage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the Peers of England, Now Existing Either by Tenure,
   page 409.
3.   Lodge, John, and Mervyn Archdall. The peerage of Ireland, or, A genealogical history of the present nobility of that kingdom: with engravings of their paternal coats of armes... (Dublin [Ireland]: J. Moore, 1789)
   page 320.

   http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8tg9AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA320&lpg=PA320&dq=Robert+Hill+of+Shilston&source=bl&ots=3qINDPKOEy&sig=q4ErGYTpg3FdgMe9PRFMx_aVmLo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tSZVUuKnHeLriAef8IHQBA&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAzge#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Hill%20of%20Shilston&f=false