Succeeded his father, Trevor Hill, 1st Viscount Hillsborough (1693-1742) in 1742, was the most distinguished public figure in the family's history. Like his father Governor of the county and an Irish Privy Councilor, he exercised his talents as courtier and politician on a wider stage, serving in several of George III's early ministries, notably - if unfortunately for his reputation - as the secretary of state for the colonies - at the Colonial Office during a crucial period in relations between the king and his American subjects. Successive steps in the peerages of Great Britain and Ireland were crowned in 1789 by the title of Marquess of Downshire in the Irish peerage. Apart from the estates at Blessington and Loughbrickland which came to him by inheritance, he established the nucleus of the Banbridge estate by purchasing four townlands in 1749 from Richard Whyte. The subsequent growth of Banbridge as a center of the linen trade was greatly fostered by the new landlord's encouragement, an encouragement also exercised on a national scale as a member of the Linen Board. A man of some taste and culture, Wills Hill was responsible for rebuilding the mansion at Hillsborough, along with the parish church and most of the village. He died in 1793.

Properties and Holdings on Record

Fort Hillsborough	Castle Hillsborough