Charles Hill was an engraver, painter and arts educator in South Australia.
History
Hill was born in Coventry, England; his father was an officer who served under Lord Wellington, and served at Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, and Toulouse, and was later the reforming Governor of Leicester County Prison. Charles was more interested in art than a military career, and served an apprenticeship as line engraver to Mark Lambert in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1840 he enrolled in the Newcastle Fine Arts Academy and took lessons at the Government School of Design with W. B. Scott, later editor of The Art Journal. He helped mount the posthumous exhibition of David Scott's works. He produced the engraving The Choristers after Barraud. He was one of those responsible for the famous engraving which depicted the opening on The Crystal Palace in 1851. Hill emigrated to South Australia on the recommendation of Archdeacon Farr, in the hope that a change of climate would be good for his health, arriving on the Historia in 1854. He found employment as art teacher at St. Peter's College also J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution, Mrs. Woodcocks Christ Church school room, at Miss Roland's school on Tavistock Street, and later Mrs. Bell's school. He opened his own School of Art in his home in Pulteney Street in 1856. Wilton Hack succeeded Hill as drawing master in 1868 at both St. Peter's and AEI. It was largely due to the efforts of Hill and W. W. Whitridge that the South Australian Society of Arts was formed; the first meeting held to establish the Society was held at his home. He moved to "Alix House", 100 South Terrace around 1866, their home for fifty years. When the Society of Arts and the South Australian Institute founded the South Australian School of Design in 1861, he was chosen as its first Master, a role he maintained through several changes of name and focus, until he retired around 1886. He was an active member of the South Australian Volunteer Force, and was an expert marksman. He was also a member of Adelaide's Bohemian Club.
Works
Notable paintings by Charles Hill include:
Wreck of the Admella donated to the Art Gallery's historic collection by the artist's grandson H. L. Hill in 1944. depicting the famous shipwreck.
Henry "Harry" Hill married Clara Balfort Shephard on 5 December 1887. He was Locomotive Superintendent at Murray Bridge, later at Petersburg He died at the Box Hill, Victoria home of his eldest son Harry.
George Felix Alix Hill married Cecilia Theuff on 2 August 1893; they divorced 1912. He had a dental practice in Collins Street, Melbourne, then 14 Vincent Street, Port Adelaide
Henrietta Susannah Hill married inn-keeper Henry Kewson of Rhynie on 20 June 1874. She married again, to Herbert Bode of Wasleys
