Hill was commissioned into the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot on 1 January 1873. Following the 1881 Childers Reforms, the 57th merged with the 77th (East Middlesex), and became 2nd Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment; Hill commanded the battalion at the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900, during the Second Boer War. He was subsequently mentioned in dispatches and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for this action.