Richard Hill (1795–1872), was a Jamaican lawyer and leader of the free people of colour, when they campaigned for equal rights in the early nineteenth century.
He made his son promise to fight for the cause of freedom and to never rest until the civil disabilities under which black people suffered had been entirely removed, and slavery abolished.
[5] In 1813, free coloureds, under the leadership of John Campbell, had succeeded in getting restrictions removed on their ability to inherit property worth more than £2000, and their right to navigate their own vessels in Jamaican waters.
[9] In 1827, Hill was the architect of a petition to the House of Commons which asked for free coloureds to have equal rights with white people.
[10][11] In 1830, thanks to the agitation of people like Hill, the Jamaican Assembly finally gave free coloureds the right to vote in elections and allowed them to play a part in the political life of the island.
[13] In 1834, the new governor, Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo, appointed a number of stipendiary magistrates to supervise the running of the Apprenticeship, and Hill was one of those appointees.
[16][17] Hill was deeply concerned about the education of the poor, and he played a role in establishing a number of elementary schools for the children of black peasants.