Sir George Francis Hill, KCB, FBA (22 December 1867 – 18 October 1948) was the

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and principal librarian of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(1931–1936). He was a specialist in

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medals.

Early years

George Hill was born in

Berhampur Brahmapur (; also known as Berhampur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Ganjam district of the Indian state of Odisha. Bramhapur is most famous for its street food, silk sarees or pato sarees, temples and many historical places. Bramhapur al ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. His grandfather, Micaiah Hill, founded the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

's outpost there and his father, Samuel John Hill, was stationed where George was born. He attended Blackheath College (later known as

Eltham College Eltham College is an independent day school situated in Mottingham, southeast London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Early hi ...

) followed by

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, and finally Merton College, Oxford. He studied under

Percy Gardner Percy Gardner, (24 November 184617 July 1937) was an English classical archaeologist and numismatist. He was Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1879 to 1887. He was Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and ...

at Merton, taking a

first class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in classics. There he also gained an interest in

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

. He was awarded the

medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society was first awarded in 1883. It is awarded by the Royal Numismatic Society and is one of the highest markers of recognition given to numismatists. The President and Council award the Medal annually to an "in ...

in 1915.

Career

In 1893, Hill joined the British Museum in the Coins and Medals Department. At that time, the department was the centre of study of Greek coins. Hill continued the work of Barclay Head and Reginald Poole; in 1897 was published the first volume of a catalogue of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

coins. Hill subsequently produced catalogues of many of the British Museum's collections in his area. In 1912, he became keeper of the department. In 1931, he was appointed Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum. Whilst director, he purchased the

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

from the

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and, with the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, the George Eumorfopoulos oriental antiquities collection. Hill was editor of the ''

Journal of Hellenic Studies ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in Hellenic studies. It also publishes reviews of recent books of importance to Hellenic studies. It was established in 1880 and is published by Camb ...

'' from 1898 to 1912. He was knighted in 1933.

Personal life

In 1897, he married Mary Paul, whose parents lived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

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. He retired in 1936 and died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1948.

Bibliography

* Hill, George Francis
''Historical Greek Coins''
London : Archibald Constable and Co., 1906. * Ward, John
''Greek Coins and their Parent Cities''
London : John Murray, 1902. (accompanied by a catalogue of the author’s collection by Sir George Francis Hill) * Hill, George Francis, ''The Development of Arabic Numerals in Europe'', Oxford, 1915. *Hill, Francis, ''A History of Cyprus'' in 4 volumes, Cambridge, 1940–1952. ** Vol. 1, ''To the Conquest by Richard Lion Heart'', 1940
2010 pbk reprint
** Vol. 2, ''The Frankish Period, 1192–1432'', 1940
2010 pbk reprint
** Vol. 3, ''The Frankish Period, 1432–1571'', 1948.
2010 pbk reprint
** Vol. 4, (edited by Harry Luke) ''The Ottoman Province, the British Colony, 1571–1948'', 1952; 2010 pbk reprint

References

External links

* *

Digital Library Numis (DLN)
Online numismatic books and articles {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, George Francis 1867 births 1948 deaths People from West Bengal Alumni of University College London Alumni of Merton College, Oxford English curators English numismatists English non-fiction writers Academic journal editors Directors of the British Museum Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath English male non-fiction writers Scholars of ancient Greek history