Hill, Sir George Fitzgerald (1763–1839), 2nd baronet, politician, was born 1 June 1763 in Co. Londonderry, the son of Sir Hugh Hill (c.1727–95), 1st baronet, of Brook Hall, and his second wife, Hannah Hill (née McClintock). The Hill family had substantial landholdings in the city and liberties of Londonderry, the towns and liberties of Coleraine and Tobermore, and in counties Donegal, Londonderry, and Leitrim. As soon as his initial education at the Derry Diocesan School (known locally as Rev. Torrens's school) was complete, Hill entered TCD (22 January 1780) at the age of sixteen; he enrolled at Lincoln's Inn in London on 4 April 1780. He graduated BA in 1783 and was called to the bar in 1786, but spent the following year (1786–7) on a continental tour.
On his return to Ireland he married (10 September 1788) Jane Beresford (1769–1836), an event that would fix the course of Hill's career in politics. Jane was daughter of John Beresford (qv), first commissioner of revenue (1780–1805) and a very influential figure in the Irish administration. Hill was returned for the borough of Coleraine in the Beresford interest (1791–5, 1797) before replacing his father as MP for Derry city (1795–8), following the latter's death in 1795. He also succeeded his father to the family title as 2nd baronet. Hill's alliance through marriage gave him access to the patronage at the Beresfords’ disposal. He was appointed a treasury commissioner in 1796 and served as clerk to the Irish parliament (1798–1800), a position with a pension worth £2,265 per annum. He also served as a trustee of the Irish linen board (1800–01). Hill performed a number of local duties, notably as recorder of the city of Derry (from 4 July 1791) and as a magistrate for the county. In the latter role he dealt actively with the agitation of the United Irishmen in the county, and it was he who recognised Wolfe Tone (qv) at Buncrana in November 1798 as he stepped ashore from the flagship Hoche to be taken prisoner. Tone had been a contemporary of Hill's at TCD and at the bar.
After the Act of Union, Hill was returned to Westminster as MP for Co. Londonderry (1801–2) and Derry city (1802–30), again in the Beresford interest. He made his maiden speech at Westminster on 12 March 1801, when he spoke in favour of continuing martial law in Ireland; he was a supporter of the Grenville ministry and, following the Beresford line, the subsequent tory administrations. Again he benefited from his links with the Beresford dynasty, gaining a number of appointments to valuable positions, notably that of commissioner to the Irish treasury (1807–17), though his ambition to become Irish under-secretary was unfulfilled. He was also appointed an Irish privy councillor on 24 December 1808. An active MP, Hill took part in many debates on Irish affairs, and though he was an opponent of catholic emancipation (he voted against catholic claims in 1810–13), he opposed Orange violence and extremism. He presented a petition on behalf of the catholics of his constituency but distanced himself from the sentiment it expressed, stating that the majority of his constituents were opposed to further catholic relief.
Having gained greater prominence at Westminster in 1816 by his opposition to illicit distillation in the north of Ireland and his chairmanship of the committee on the bill to prevent it, he was rewarded by the government with a substantial amount of local patronage and was appointed vice-treasurer after the amalgamation of the Irish and English treasuries. He also received a place on the British privy council (13 May 1817). He continued to oppose both catholic emancipation and the Catholic Association in parliament in the 1820s. As the effective representative of the Beresfords in the north, he became embroiled in the bitter dispute between the family, whose head was then the primate of the Church of Ireland, Lord John George Beresford (qv), and the other member for Co. Londonderry, George Robert Dawson (qv), a brother-in-law of Robert Peel (qv). This was a difficult position for Hill and Dawson, who had been political allies on the catholic question, particularly after Dawson announced in a speech in Londonderry in August 1828 that, following the election of Daniel O'Connell (qv) for Clare, there was no alternative but to settle the catholic question.
The offer of the post of governor of St Vincent in the West Indies in 1830 was a lucrative reward for Hill's political connections and offered the possibility of escaping the dispute with Dawson and of paying off debts. He served as governor of St Vincent for about three years (1830–33) before being appointed governor of Trinidad (1833–9), where he died on 8 March 1839. A member of the Royal Irish Academy (1798–1839), Hill also held several military positions: he was captain of the Londonderry yeoman cavalry (1796), captain commandant of the Londonderry legion yeomanry corps (1796), lieutenant-colonel (1800) and colonel (1822) of the Londonderry militia.