T.P. Hill
(18**-18**) Teacher of English, public speaking and recitation, and organiser of literary recitals in the Cape from 1846 to 1851.
Biography
He appears to have been an educated person, who must have arrived in Cape Town in 1845 or 1846. Besides his wortk in the arts, he also acted as an "agent in refrigerators", possibly as a source of income.
He left the Cape early in 1851 for Mauritius, to continue with this literary and teaching work there.
Contribution to theatre and the arts in South Africa
It is uncertain when he arrived in Cape Town, but in October 1846 a Mr T.P. Hill started with a series of "Novel Literary Entertainments" in the Commercial Exchange. In 1848 he became the secretary of the Amicable Club and played a leading role in its recitation and literary studies.
In June 1849 he once again gave regular Literary Entertainments in the Commercial Exchange. He recited from Shakespeare (Hamlet, Shylock, Mark Anthony, etc.), Dickens, Sheridan Knowles, and from other prose and verse writers. Hill continued these "Entertainments" until 1850, then left the Cape early in 1851 for Mauritius, where he continued – with considerable success - to do the same. His recitals had an enormous influence on the many amateur players in the Cape.
Bosman speculates that the City Amateur Theatrical Society (floreat 1854) may have been one aspect of Hill's legacy.
[TH, JH]
Sources
F.C.L. Bosman, 1928: pp. 427, 440, 494, 500.
Facsimile version of the Proceedings of the 20th anniversary meeting of the subscribers of The Public Library, Cape Town, 1849: p.3[1]
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