3.8 Hillman elsewhere in the World

The name Hillman and its variants are now scattered in low numbers in several other parts of the world than those already described in mainland Europe, and the recent emigrations to North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have distributed the name further afield.

3.8.1    India

The British East India Company, and later in the 1800s the British Crown or “Raj” governed many parts of India, then including Pakistan, for four centuries from the late 1500s to 1947. During this period several thousand military and government officials from Britain lived, worked and sometimes died in India. They also married there and had children – they made it their home. The names Hillman and Illman were included in a number of occupations, but mainly as soldiers of the rank and file.

The Families in British India website[1] includes 20 people in India as it then was between 1739 and 1944. Nine of these were military, one was a Tea Broker, and another was William Hillman – a Pilot (shipping) – who died at Calcutta in Bengal in 1742.

3.8.2    Israel

The family name Hillman occurs in the Jewish community in Isarel, originating it would seem from East European countries and Russia. Jewish people have emigrated from those areas as the result of persecution and pogroms to the USA especially and other countries, then many have re-emigrated to the new state of Israel. As such there are now Hillmans in Israel in low numbers.

Of some fame was Captain Moshe Hillman[2] of the Israeli Army, who in September 1948, leapt into the car where the Swedish UN Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte and others had just been assassinated by disguised Jewish militants. He caused it to be driven to the hospital – but too late for the occupants.

3.8.3    South Africa

The family name Hillman in South Africa originated from several different sources, including Jewish Hillmans seeking a safe haven during and after the Second World War. Some Jews arrived from pogroms in Latvia and Lithuania[3].

The LocateMyName website[4] lists nine Hillmans in the Western Cape, five in Natal, three in Gauteng and one in the Eastern Cape. This is far fewer than other sources suggest.

Collated information from a number of sources[5],[6] records 30 births-baptisms between 1783 – 1933; 44 marriages-divorces between 1847 – 1986; 98 death-burials 1823 – 2012; and 13 passenger arrivals between 1812 – 1897. These records indicate a significant presence, with passengers arriving from Britain and St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. There must be a great number more passenger lists not yet transcribed or made available on the web.

John and Emma Hillman[7] and their family emigrated from St Helena to Port Nolloth in the north-western Cape Province in around 1880, where he worked as a boatman for the Okiep and Springbok copper mining company. The copper ore was transported by mule-drawn railway to the port, then transferred in lighters out to the waiting ships. This is very similar to the situation on St Helena until recently, with ships collecting copper ore only being able to anchor some distance offshore. John Hillman would have been aware of this and possibly already had the boating skills, although on the Island he was recorded as a Boarding House Master, Emma as a Housemaid.

Their eight children’s baptisms are all recorded at Port Nolloth, and their later life once the copper mines had ceased operation in the early 1900s when they moved to live in Woodstock, Cape Town.

It is very likely, but not yet proven, that the remaining Hillmans along with many other “Saints” also moved to South Africa at this time of economic hardship on the Island. There were organised emigrations of labour and their families from St Helena to South Africa, to other locations including Cape Town and Natal, which included a few other Hillman families. No further records of Hillman exist on the St Helena Island after 1888 (until we lived there in 2011-2014!).

William Hillman[8] gained notoriety in January 1858 when he deserted from the 12th Regiment of Foot at Line Drift in the Eastern Cape, aged 29 years. He was born in Frome, Somerset and we do not know what punishment was meted out.

Alfred Francis Hillman[9] was Chief Constable of Cape Town until his death (1881). He was born in Britain in Devonshire (1845) and had a family in South Africa.

Charles Hillman[10], Armourer-Sergeant of the 91st Foot Regiment of the Argyle & Southern Highlanders was awarded the Kaffir War Medal in 1853. It is not clear whether he died in South Africa, and he was presumably recruited in Britain.

W. Hillman[11] was a Justice of the Peace at Meyer, Johannesburg District in 1934, and later in 1943 as a Council Member for the Witwatersrand University.

Fanny Hillman[12] was the author of a banned publication entitled “Memoirs of a Jewish Madam” in 1965.

3.8.4    Singapore

On a recent visit to this remarkable island city I was amazed to note in passing a Hillman Restaurant. A snack there revealed from the staff only that they had no idea where the name came from, and that there was another branch elsewhere in the country.

I am certain that this does not exhaust the locations of members of the Hillman family in the world, or of their exploits, and would be very keen to include any others communicated to me with details.

Sources:

[1] Families in British India https://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/

[2] Macintyre, Donald. 2008. Israel’s forgotten hero: The assassination of Count Bernadotte – and the death of peace. The Independent newspaper. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-forgotten-hero-the-assassination-of-count-bernadotte-and-the-death-of-peace-934094.html

[3] http://www.craiglevin.com/FamilyTree/FamilyTree.asp

[4] http://www.locatemyname.com/southafrica/Hillman

[5] http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl

[6] http://www.ancestrysa.com/cgi-bin/ancestrysa/search.pl?All::Hillman

[7] http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl – numerous references to the family of John and Emma Hillman from St Helena at Port Nolloth, Cape Province.

[8] 1858. Cape of Good Hope, Government Gazette, 29th January 1858.

[9] South Africa Death Notices, www.Ancestor.co.za

[10] 2012 http://www.medalsofengland.com/medals.php?id=121&medalid=608

[11] http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl

[12] http://andeverythingelsetoo.blogspot.com/2018/12/fanny-hillman-memoirs-of-jewish-madam.html