James Bird Hill was born in Burton Overy, Leicestershire, England on 1 March 1801 to parents James Hill and Catherine Bird.
James Bird Hill enlisted in the (now) Queen’s 2nd Royal Regiment of Foot; the Regiment is known to have been stationed in Dublin, Ireland, Bombay (Poona [now Pune] and Colobah) in/around 1832 and also Ghazni, Afghanistan in 1839.
James enlisted under the name of James Bird, and married Ann Jarvis in September 1820, before the Regiment was moved to Ireland.
The Regiment was posted to Bombay, and was eventually engaged in the First Afghan Wars. James Bird Hill was reported to have died in Ghazni (after the first battle of Ghazni) of Typhoid and starvation on 31 July 1839.