Author: Hilton, William
Biography:
HILTON, William (c. 1725-98: findmypast.com)
By the evidence a good friend and useful citizen who lived in and around Newcastle-upon-Tyne for most of his life, he nevertheless left few of the usual records. His birthplace and parentage have not been discovered but they were probably working-class: he refers to himself as "uncultivated" in one of his prefaces. He first appeared in print as the editor of a poem, Hermas (1772), left for posthumous publication by his friend John Spencer (q.v.), who had worked in the Customs service in Newcastle and retired to London in 1764. Hilton also wrote touching Memoirs of Spencer (1781), identifying himself at that time as a resident of Whitburn, which is a village on the outskirts of Newcastle. He was married about 1769, presumably to the woman celebrated in Happiness (1773) as "Dear, faithful ANN!" (No good match has been found in marriage records.) They had at least two children who were baptised at Gateshead in 1770 and 1772, Esther Margaret and Spencer William. His Poetical Works, published by subscription in two volumes (1775-6) do not reveal much more about him, except that "real exigency" made the subscription necessary, and that some of the poems had appeared under pseudonyms previously in the Newcastle Chronicle. The list of subscribers contains about 300 names. He may or may not have been the author of the satirical verses of Caps Well Fit (1785). His final venture, The Newcastle and Gateshead Directory (1795), includes his own name among public servants as "Clerk to the Borough-Meetings, Gateshead-Hill." He is described as a "mercer and draper" in the record of his death on 2 Apr. 1798 and burial at Gateshead on 4 Apr. (WorldCat; ESTC; findmypast.com 19 Nov. 2024)