[1][2] A brain specialist, he was the first person to use the term 'neuron' in English to describe the nerve cell and its processes, in his 1891 translation of a German paper summarizing the lectures of Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz.

As Vice-Chancellor, he startled some critics by inviting the actor Sir Henry Irving to deliver the Rede Lecture in 1898.

[4] Irving was awarded an honorary Litt.D., prompting one Cambridge graduate to request that the Vice-Chancellor erase his name from the university register.

Although in retirement, and with some hesitation, Hill was persuaded to undertake the rallying of a badly shaken college and building it into a university.

[8] In a short period Hill changed the whole situation and won the confidence of staff, students and college council.

New appointments and expansion into new fields, including Economics backed with an external London University BSc, Pharmaceuticals, Civil and Mechanical Engineering and also Architecture and building.

For improved accommodation a lease was taken out on Highfield Hall, a former country house overlooking Southampton Common, but only for a limited number of staff and students.