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Home / People / Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill

Historical person

Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill

1772–1842

Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, was a British general who served under Wellington during the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Known for calm command and concern for soldiers, he led independent operations as well as major formations and won victories at Arroyo dos Molinos and Almaraz.

At Waterloo he commanded II Corps and survived being temporarily feared dead. Hill later succeeded Wellington as commander-in-chief of the army. Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill was born in Shropshire and died in Shrewsbury.

Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe’s Command gives Rowland Hill the real command function he held in the 1812 Almaraz operation. Hill sends Richard Sharpe to reconnoitre the French forts guarding the pontoon bridge across the Tagus, a crossing that allows two French armies to support one another. The fictional mission expands into deception and assault, but Hill’s strategic objective is historical: destroy the bridge, separate the French forces and open the way for Wellington’s army. He therefore appears as the senior commander whose operational problem sets Sharpe’s adventure in motion.

Periods

Periods linked to Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill

Peninsular War1807–1814 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill (1 series)

Sharpe in Order

by Bernard Cornwell 26 books 4.3(358,248)

The Sharpe series follows Richard Sharpe from service as a private soldier in India to command in the British Army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The novels place him at the Siege of Seringapatam, Battle of Assaye, Siege of Gawilghur, Battle of Trafalgar, British attack on Copenhagen,…

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