Hill was a daughter of James Hill (died 1872), a corn merchant, banker and follower of Robert Owen, and his third wife, Caroline Southwood Smith (1809–1902), a teacher and a daughter of Dr Thomas Southwood Smith, the pioneer of sanitary reform.
The family were brought up in reduced financial circumstances, after their father went bankrupt in 1840 (for a second time), necessitating them to leave their home Bank House, South Brink, Wisbech.
This involved, at first, artistic decoration of hospitals, schools, literary institutes and working-class clubs.
[3] Many old burial grounds became public green spaces that are now highly prized leisure areas for Londoners.
[citation needed] She worked closely, from 1891, with her sister Octavia Hill on major housing reform projects in England.