Author Boswell James

ee in 1858, although he was later awarded a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1866 and a Doctor of Civil Law in 1871 in recognition of his contribution to English letters. In 1858 Hill began to teach at Bruce Castle school, and from 1868 to 1877 was headmaster. He married Annie Scott, the sister of a friend from his schooldays, on 29 December 1858. Partly to relieve what he felt to be the tedium of running the school, Hill returned to writing and reviewing. In 1869, he became a regular contributor to the Saturday Review, with which he remained in connection until 1884. On his retirement from teaching he devoted himself to the study of English 18th century literature, and established his reputation as the most learned commentator on the works of Samuel Johnson. Remaining true to his family's radical roots, Hill was a strong supporter of the Liberal Party and actively campaigned on behalf of Gladstone in the mid 1880s. He settled at Oxford in 1887, but from 1891 onwards his winters were usually spent abroad for his health. He died at Hampstead, London, on 27 February 1903. His works include: Dr Birkbeck Hill's elaborate edition of Boswell's Life is a monumental work, invaluable to the student. See a memoir by his nephew, Harold Spencer Scott, in the edition of the Lives of the English Poets (1905), and the Letters edited by his daughter, Lucy Crump, in 1903. This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.