Pat Hill passed away on December 17, at the age of 95. Mr Hill, and his family before him owned Bristol Uniforms for 112 years from 1887, when Mr William J Hill took over the business from Wathen Gardiner, until the sale of the family business in 1999. 

Mr Hill started working at Bristol Uniforms in 1935, at the age of 20, after working for three years for Selfridges in London. He saw active service during World War 2, serving mainly in the Middle East from 1939 to the end of the war.  

In the 1960's, Mr Hill pioneered developments in firefighting clothing, laying the foundations of the international business it is today. He was instrumental in establishing a worldwide network of distributors in the 1940s and 1950s which today generate around half of the company's global business. 

 

Date posted: 24.01.11