Skip to main content

Author: Hills, Elise

Biography:

HILLS, Elise (fl 1835)

“Elise” was almost certainly a nickname. The only known collection of poems by “Elise Hills” appeared in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1835, with a distinguished though not very extensive subscription list headed by HRH the Duchess of Kent and including several members of the aristocracy, a vicar (of Portsmouth), and half a dozen MPs, among them Lord Palmerston. The only Hillses on the list are a Miss E. Hills and Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hills. He was a former soldier in the Royal Artillery, pensioned in 1809, who in 1799 had married a widow, Mary Holmes, at Portsmouth. Hills was not an uncommon name in the vicinity, however, and none of the Eliza or Elizabeth Hillses baptised there before 1817 was a daughter of that couple. The poet may well have been related to them but was most probably one of the children of Charles Hills and his second wife Ann Parsons, both of Portsea (part of Portsmouth), who had married at St. Mary, Portsea, on 7 Jul. 1804. Baptisms for both Eliza (31 Oct. 1806) and her younger sister Elizabeth (21 Apr. 1817) were performed at the same church. In that case the elder would have been by custom “Miss Hills” and her younger sister the “Miss E. Hills” of the subscription list. It is also just possible that Elise Hills was born and lived elsewhere and was only an occasional visitor. No more reliable information has been found. (ancestry.com 9 Jul. 2022; findmypast.com 9 Jul. 2022; information from AA)

 

Books written (1):

Portsmouth/ London: printed by W. Harrison/ Longman and Co., 1835