John Hills

Major John Waller Hills PC (1867 – 24 December 1938) was a British Liberal Unionist and Conservative politician and author. The second son of Herbert Augustus and Anna Hills of High Head Castle, Cumberland, Hills was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1897 he married Stella Duckworth, step-daughter of Leslie Stephen. Three months into the marriage, Stella was taken ill with peritonitis, and died. Nevertheless, Hills retained a close connection with his wife's family after her death, including her half-sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Woolf professed to dislike him, comparing his appearance to that of "an excellent highly polished well seasoned brown boot." During World War I he served as a captain in the 4th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He was promoted to the rank of Major in October 1915 and Acting Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Battalion in July 1916. He was wounded in September 1916, and mentioned in dispatches. He was Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for City of Durham from 1906 to 1918 and for the successor Durham City Division from 1918 to 1922, and Conservative member for Ripon from December 1925, following his victory in the by-election. He held ministerial office as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1922 to 1923.