Trevor, Arthur Hill (c.1694–1771), 1st Viscount Dungannon, politician and landowner, was the second son of the Rt Hon. Michael Hill of Belvoir, Co. Down, and Anne Hill (née Trevor), daughter, and only child to have issue, of Sir John Trevor of Brynkinalt, Denbighshire. He assumed the additional name of Trevor in 1759 after his succession to a substantial Trevor inheritance which came to him, circuitously, via his father's half-brother, Marcus Hill (d. 1751), who had inherited it from his mother, Mary, eldest daughter of Marcus Trevor (qv), first Viscount Dungannon. Arthur was admitted to TCD in 1712, but there is no evidence to suggest that he graduated. Elected to parliament for the borough of Hillsborough in 1715, he was returned in 1727 and 1761 for Co. Down, in which capacity he remained until in 1766 his elevation to the peerage as Baron Hill of Olderfleet and Viscount Dungannon (second creation) brought him to the house of lords.
Hill was an active parliamentarian, as measured by committee service and sponsorship of legislation. Most of the latter – roads bills, a measure to promote the lighting, paving and cleansing of the streets of Dublin, and other major urban centres – reflected his commitment to the prevailing culture of improvement. He pursued the same end in seeking to develop the banking system, for though his voting record on the proposal to establish a Bank of Ireland in 1721 was inconsistent, he was a partner in the private bank of Gardiner & Hill until its dissolution in 1739. He was also a founder member of the Dublin Society, 1731, a long-time board member of various public bodies, of which the linen board, workhouse, Foundling Hospital, and Blue Coat School were the most notable, a director of Tyrone collieries, and an active participant in local government.
As well as these positions, Hill held a succession of national offices of increasing status, which was consistent with his support for, and increasingly prominent membership of, what Charles O'Hara (qv) in 1755 described as the ‘court party’ in the house of commons. Successively keeper of the records in the Bermingham Tower (1719–33), joint registrar of deeds and conveyances (1734–6), and registrar of deeds and conveyances (1736–48), Hill's place at the heart of government was formally acknowledged when he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer in 1754 in succession to the speaker, Henry Boyle (qv), who had been dismissed from office for defying the crown on the controversial issue of the allocation of the money surplus. Since he had voted against the expulsion of Arthur Jones Nevill (qv) and in support of the money bill, which affirmed the crown's right to authorise the allocation of the financial surplus at issue in 1753, Hill was not an undeserving appointee. However, he was not to enjoy the fruits of the office for long. Obliged to surrender the position in 1755 to meet Boyle's price for bringing the money bill dispute to a close, he was made a commissioner of the revenue in November 1755. His patent was renewed in 1761, and his life's work acknowledged by his elevation to the peerage in 1766. He died 30 January 1771 in Dublin and was buried at Belvoir.
Commonly acknowledged, in the words of the waspish Mary Delany (qv), as ‘a very honest, hospitable, friendly, good man, with a little pepper in his composition’, Hill-Trevor was an attentive landowner, who oversaw the improvement of his Belvoir estate and the Trevor lands he inherited through his wife. He was married twice, first to Anne, the daughter of Joseph Deane (1674–1715) of Crumlin, Co. Dublin, and, secondly, in 1737, to Anne (d. 1799), daughter and heir of Edmund Stafford of Brownstown, Co. Meath, and Mount Stafford, Co. Antrim, with whom he had three children. He was succeeded by his grandson, Arthur Hill-Trevor (1763–1837), 2nd Viscount Dungannon.