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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Captain Kenrick Hill

Captain Kenrick Hill, of Poraite, near Napier, is a very old colonist. He was born in the North of Ireland, and is a son of Mr. John Hill, of Bellaghy Castle, for over fifty years magistrate for the counties of Derry and Antrim. Captain Hill was educated at the Grace Hill Academy, and joined Lord Donegal's regiment in the year 1854. In 1855 he was gazetted to the 31st Regiment, served in the Crimea for six months, and afterwards accompanied his regiment to Malta. Gibraltar, and other posts, exchanged to the 14th Regiment in 1857, and came to New Zealand in 1860, where he went through a five years' campaign in the Maori wars. He then bought his discharge, and settled down as a sheep-farmer in Hawke's Bay. For twenty years Captain Hill, in partnership with Captain Gordan, conducted a run on the Heretaunga Plains. In 1893 Captain Hill purchased his partner's interest in the latter property, and afterwards leased it to his son, Mr. Dudley Hill, and purchased the charming property of fifty acres on which he now resides. It is situated on a point jutting out into the Inner Harbour of Napier, opposite Scinde Island, and the water frontage includes a very beautiful bay. Close to the shore is a delightful and valuable piece of bush, while at the back of the house is quite a forest of eucalyptus of immense size. Captain Hill has greatly enlarged and improved the house, which occupies one of the most beautiful spots in the province. He married a daughter of the late Mr. Charles French, of Dublin, and has one son and one daughter.