Dossier 04 - Wardens' vouchers: Henry Hills

Hills came to prominence as a printer for the New Model Army at Oxford. At the request of Lieutenant-General Charles Fleetwood, he was made free of the Stationers' Company, and in 1655 he secured privileges to print English bibles and psalters, previously held by the king's printers and the Stationers' Company respectively. Although briefly imprisoned after the Stuart Restoration of 1660, by 1677 he had regained sufficient official favour to be appointed one of the king's printers alongside Thomas Newcombe. In 1678 he was elected to the Court (executive body) of the Stationers' Company. Hills reached the peak of his success and influence under James II. His conversion to Catholicism and loyalty to the King saw him rewarded with the new position of printer to the royal household and chapel. It was with James’s favour that Hills survived the purges of the livery companies in 1687 and rose to hold the highest Company office of Master. However, the deposition of the Stuarts in the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 heralded a reversal of fortune for Hills, who fled to St Omer in December 1688, leaving his premises to be raided and destroyed by an anti-Catholic mob.