John Hill (1749–1794)
John Hill, a butcher, was found guilty, on 17 March 1785 at the Hereford Assizes, of larceny. Sentenced to 14 years transportation he was ordered from Hereford Gaol to a Thames hulk. He was then transferred to the Lion hulk at Portsmouth. Embarking on the Scarborough on 29 November 1789, he arrived in Sydney in June 1790 as part of the Second Fleet.
It is not known for certain which of the three John Hills who had arrived in the colony from 1788 murdered Simon Burn by stabbing him in the heart at Parramatta on 5 October 1794. This John Hill, however, best fits the killer's description as a butcher. He was also working at Parramatta. After being found guilty of murdering Burn, Hill was executed on 15 October and buried the next day. His burial was registered at St Philip's Sydney.
* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 331-32
Related Entries in NCB Sites
- Burn, Simon (crime victim)
Citation details
'Hill, John (1749–1794)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/hill-john-29854/text36953, accessed 9 October 2024.
Life Summary [details]
Birth
Death
15 October,
1794
(aged ~ 45)
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Cause of Death
Cultural Heritage
Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.