HILL & BOLL CARRIAGE BUILDERS

Coach builders from carts to cars

 

John Hill was born in 1830 in Sherborne, the son of Thomas Hill and his wife, Charlotte. Little is known of John's early life but in the winter of 1863 he married 23-year old Sophia Milborne, daughter of Yeovil tailor and draper John Milborne and his wife Elizabeth, née Bidder.

It is not known when Hill's Carriage Works first started but the advertisement in Whitby's Yeovil Almanack Advertiser of 1878 says "Established 40 Years" indicating a founding date of around 1838 which suggests that it was begun by John's father, Thomas, although the 1841 census does record that Thomas was a baker by trade. The carriage works does not appear on Day's map of 1831 but it is shown on the 1858 map.

One of the exhibitors at the Bath & West of England Agricultural Show  held in Ram Park during 4, 5 & 6 June 1856 was Yeovil carriage manufacturer John Hill, at the time only 26 years old. The judges of the show  recorded that his carriages "exceed anything in workmanship, lightness or design yet introduced" and the Western Flying Post described him as "the best carriage manufacturer in the West".

In the 1871 census 41-year old John Hill was listed as a coach builder and was next to the carriage works and opposite the Red Lion Inn in Kingston with Sophia, aged 31, and their two daughters; Bessie Sophia aged 6 and 3-month old Charlotte.

John died in the winter of 1874, aged just 44, and Sophia continued to manage the coach building business. In the 1881 census Sophia was a 41-year old widow listed as a coach builder and lodging with her was Johann H Boll, also listed as a coach builder. Johannes Heinrich Boll became a naturalised British citizen in 1885 and changed his name to John Henry Boll. He married Sophia's daughter, Bessie Sophia, in 1886. By 1889 the carriage works had changed from Hill's Carriage Works and was being advertised as Hill & Boll, Carriage Builders of Kingston and Park Road, Yeovil and South Street, Sherborne.

John and Bessie were to have three children; Hilda born 1887, Frederick born 1890 and Evelyn born 1892. In the 1891 census John and Bessie were living in Pitney Cottage, Kingston, with their daughter Hilda and son Frederick. John was aged 33 and listed as a coach builder and was effectively running Hill & Boll.