DOWNSHIRE, WILLS HILL, 1ST MARQUESS OF (1718 ), son of Trevor Hill, 1st Viscount Hillsborough, was born at Fairford in Gloucestershire on May 3o, 1718. He became a member of parliament in 1741. In 1751 he was created earl of Hillsborough in the Irish peerage, and in 1756 a peer of Great Britain as Baron Harwich. For nearly two years he was president of the Board of Trade and Plantations under George Grenville, and after a brief period of retirement he filled the same position, and then that of joint postmaster-general, under the earl of Chatham. From 1768 to 1772 Hillsborough was secretary of State for the Colonies and also president of the Board of Trade, becoming an English earl on his retirement ; in 1779 he was made secretary of State for the northern department, and he was created marquess of Downshire seven years after his final retirement in 1782. Both in and out of office he opposed all concessions to the American colonists, but he favoured the project for a union between England and Ireland. He died on Oct. 7,