stamp. Despite official opposition 

 a bill to this effect was carried 

 through Parliament in 1839, and on 

 Jan. 10, 1840, penny postage came 

 into force. In 1846 he was pre- 

 sented with 13,000 raised by pub- 

 lic subscription; in 1847 he was 

 made an under-secretary at the 

 post office. He was chief secretary 

 1854-04, and was made a K.C.B. 

 in 1860. He died at Hampstead, 

 Aug. 27, 1879. 



Hill, ROWLAND (1744-1833). 

 English preacher. Born at Hawk- 

 stone Park, Aug. 12, 1744, the son 

 ^^^^^^^^^_ of Sir Rowland 

 I Hill, Bart. (d. 

 I 1783), he was 

 M educated at 

 I Eton and S. 

 1 John's College, 

 j^lj Cambridge. In 



'""IBS 1 773 he became 



I curate at King- 

 - JHHI ston, Somerset- 

 Rowland Hill, chiro Hninrr 



English preacher 



then in dea- 

 con's orders. Rejected for the 

 priesthood owing to his eccen- 

 tricity, . he continued to preach 

 about the country as one of the 

 numerous and nominal chaplains 

 to Selina, Lady Huntingdon (q.v.). 

 In 1783 he commenced a ministry at 

 Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars Road, 

 London, built by himself, where he 

 attracted huge congregations. He 

 died April 11, 1833. His book, 

 Village Dialogues, went through 

 numerous editions. 



Hill 60. A low, almost invisible 

 eminence, 2 m. S.E. of Ypres, 

 near Zillebeke, Belgium. It was 

 of tactical importance in the 

 Great War, as the fire from it en- 

 filaded the British position in the 

 Ypres salient, and the summit gave 

 the Germans good observation of 

 the British movements. In April, 

 1915, six mines were run under it, 

 each containing a ton of explosives, 

 though owing to the wetness of 

 the giound mining operations 

 here \\ ere of peculiar difficulty. 

 The dace fixed for their explosion 

 was 7 a.m. on April 17, when the 

 hill was to be assaulted by two 

 battalions of the 13th brigade. 

 The effect of the mines was great, 

 and beiore the smoke had scattered 

 the British had seized the top. 



Theii task was then to consoli- 

 date their position under the heavy 

 fire of the German artillery, which 

 was at once turned upon them, 

 and k; construct the necessary 

 communication trenches. All the 

 night of April 17-18,- German 

 bombing parties attacked, work- 

 ing forward amidst the numerous 

 shell craters which covered the 

 slopes of the hill. At dawn there 

 was a more resolute advance by 

 the Germans, and they actually 



3993 . 



reached the crest, on part of which 

 they established themselves. In 

 the evening of the 18th the British 

 infantry once more assaulted this 

 German lodgment and cleared it 

 out after a desperate struggle in 

 which the British losses were over 

 1,500. Next day the Germans re- 

 doubled their bombardment, with 

 serious effect. 



The summit was small and only a 

 few men could be stationed on it 

 without dangerous overcrowding. 

 All April 19, 20, and 21, the crest was 

 held, though the casualties multi- 

 plied fearfully. By the night of 

 April 21, when the Germans tem- 

 porarily ceased their attacks and 

 relaxed the vehemence of their fire, 

 the British losses on the hill ex- 

 ceeded 3,000. It remained in Brit- 

 ish hands without challenge until 

 May 1, when the Germans attemp- 

 ted to overwhelm its small garrison 

 with chlorine gas, discharged from 

 cylinders, and did actually kill or 

 put temporarily out of action most 

 of the garrison, but they were not 

 able to establish themselves in the 

 British works owing to the fumes. 



On May 5 they repeated this 

 gas attack and rendered the sole 

 British trench on the summit un- 

 tenable, seizing it when the fumes 

 were dissipated. Thus, the crest 

 once more passed into their pos- 

 session, though the British could 

 not be dislodged from the western 

 slope, to which they clung reso- 

 lutely. Until June, 1917, the crest 

 remained in German hands. It 

 was recovered by the British in 

 the operations for the capture of 

 the Messines Ridge, but it once 

 more passed to the Germans when, 

 after the German offensive on the 

 Lys, Kemmel Hill fell into their 

 hands, and the British had to draw 

 in their lines before Ypres and 

 prepare for a possible evacuation 

 of the salient, in April, 1918. It 

 was recovered with ease in the 

 offensive of Sept., 1918. The site 

 of the hill was purchased in 1920 

 for a war memorial. See Hooge. 



Hill 60. Hill in Gallipoli penin- 

 sula, in the northern part of the 

 Sari Bair range (q.v.). In the 

 course of the British campaign 

 there in the Great War, Australian 

 infantry, on Aug. 21, 1915, drove 

 the Turks from their trenches on 

 the hill, enabling the British line 

 to be linked up with a trench line 

 instead of isolated posts. See Gal- 

 lipoli, Campaign in; Suvla Bay, 

 Battle of. 



Hill 63. Hill of Belgium, in 

 the prov. of W. Flanders. About 

 1 m. N W. of Ploegsteert Wood 

 and 206 ft. high, its commanding 

 position made it a famous obser- 

 vation post for the British in the 

 Great War. In the German -offen- 



HILLA 



sive towards the Channel Ports in 

 April, 1918, it came into great, 

 prominence, being defended by 

 the 25th div., on April 11. Subse- 

 quently taken by the Germans, 

 it was recaptured by the 29th 

 and 36th divisions early in Sept. 

 See Flanders, Battle of; Ypres, 

 Battles of. 



Hill 70. Hill of France, in the 

 dept. of Pas-de-Calais. It is 230 

 ft. high and overlooks Loos on 

 the S.E. and dominates Lens. 

 In the battle of Loos, Sept., 1915, 

 being then behind the German re- 

 serve line, it was a main objective 

 of the British ; it was captured 

 on Sept. 25 by the 15th Scottish 

 div., but the position N. of it was 

 lost the following day. The Guards 

 made a brilliant attack on the hill, 

 Sept. 27, and the ground to the 

 N. was recaptured next day. The 

 hill, the greater part of which was 

 left in the German possession, was 

 finally taken by Canadian troops 

 in Aug., 1917. See Loos, Battle of. 



Hill 70. Hill in Gallipoli penin- 

 sula, 3 m. E. of Suvla Bay. It is 

 also known as Scimitar Hill, and 

 forms one of a group of hills behind 

 the Suvla Plain. It was the objec- 

 tive in the second phase of the 

 Suvla operations, Aug., 1915. 

 After a strong bombardment by 

 the British, the 87th Brigade, at 

 3.30 p.m., Aug. 21, advanced 

 against the hill, which was strongly 

 entrenched by the Turks. The 1st 

 Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 1st 

 Border Regiment almost gained the 

 crest, but the Turks' guns from 

 behind Hill 100 kept them from 

 completely winning the hill. 



An attack on the S. side by the 

 2nd S.W. Borderers failed. At 5 

 p.m. the mounted div., consisting 

 of Yeomanry, formed up below the 

 87th brigade between the two hills, 

 and as darkness fell charged up 

 Hill 70. They reached the southern 

 top and occupied part of the 

 enemy's trenches, but retreated 

 owing to the Turks' gun-fire. 

 Another attack later in the even- 

 ing carried the Yeomanry to the 

 crest, where they bayoneted the 

 Turks in their trenches, and went 

 down the reverse slopes in pursuit 

 of the enemy. The position was 

 abandoned during the night. See 

 Gallipoli, Campaign in ; Suvla Bay, 

 Battle of. 



Hilla OR HILLEH. Town of Meso 

 potamia. Situated on the Lower 

 Euphrates, and built amid the 

 ruins of Babylon, it is about 60 m. 

 S. of Bagdad on the rly. from Bag- 

 dad to Basra. Kerbela lies a few 

 miles N.W. and Nejef about the 

 same distance S.W. of it, and it is 

 much frequented by Shiah pilgrims 

 on their way to those Holy Cities. 

 Pop. about 30,000. 



