The dead tell tales
Thomas Boucher Hill 1834-1922
There can be no doubt that T.B. Hill was a man who attracted extreme controversy in his earlier days.
When nominated to the Auckland Provincial Council in 1868, it was five minutes before a seconder spoke up, and then the character assassination, presented as praise, began (Daily Southern Cross, December 3, 1868).
The nominator stated: “T.B. Hill, Esq., is a fit and proper person to represent this ward … he is a very prosperous man, a very upright man … who will not be bought or sold”.
The eventual seconder stressed Hill’s large property holdings and Hill’s straight talking: “if … he sees anything going on wrong he will not be afraid to open his mouth and speak about it … it has been said that Mr T.B. Hill is an enemy of provincial institutions, but I believe it is on account of their extravagance … I believe the reason why he could not see his way to uphold Provincialism was because of the nambypamby system …”
After some grumblings from the floor, Hill was declared appointed to the Provincial Council.
Hill was not at all grateful for his appointment: “I look upon it as no honour whatsoever … I expect if I only open my mouth Mr Wynn will jump down my throat … I fully expect to be so disgusted with the Provincial Council that I shall have to leave it”.
So, who was T.B. Hill to arouse such antipathy? He had come to Auckland in 1860 with his wife (his cousin, Mary (Polly) nee Boucher).
As many couples do today, they used her surname as a double-barrelled name but without the hyphen.
We know him in the Waikato as a pharmacist, farmer and landowner at Raglan where he eventually settled.
He first bought land at Ruapuke, near Raglan, in 1869, but lived there only intermittently while developing his farm, retaining his business in Auckland.
In May 1889 he was declared bankrupt, but a month later this was annulled and Hill soon opened two more stores.
The large farm was named Wiveliscombe Farm, after his home in Somerset.
According to FJ Trolove’s book “Ruapuke”, Hill was inspired to visit the area by Ruapuke resident Captain Swann, who has featured in the “Dead Tell Tales”.
Hill had a four-roomed house built on the prospective farm and brought his family by ship in 1871 – the voyage was rough, and thereafter Hill would make the trip by land, a long horse ride down the coast.
Hill planted a large orchard, including walnut trees, but some of his other introductions are now considered less favourably: blackberries, gorse, sparrows and leeches.
The latter were indispensable in his medical treatments, for blood-letting.
He also set up a wind-powered flour mill and a lime kiln.
In 1889 Hill bought more land, closer to Raglan. The new farm, Valley Home, was up Hill’s Road.
He opened a pharmacy in Cliff Street in Raglan. According to Murray R Frost in his book “Community Pharmacists”, as Raglan often had no doctor Hill had to perform duties of “veterinary surgeon, tooth puller and medical attendant”.
On display at Raglan Museum is Hill’s apothecary kit, a beautifully made wooden box full of glass vials.
This would have been a travelling set, for visiting patients on their farms.
By the time of Thomas and Mary’s Diamond Wedding celebrations in 1916, of a family of 12 they had two sons and six daughters still living as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He stayed fit even after his retirement, climbing up Mt Karioi every birthday up until his 80th.
Thomas Boucher Hill died in 1922 in his 90th year having left his mark on the Raglan-Ruapuke community and known affectionately as “the grand old man”.
He was buried in Ruapuke Cemetery on land that he and neighbour William Thomson donated for the purpose.