About Us

Henry Hill- Now in Our Third Generation.

Henry Hill is a third-generation military tailoring business, established in 1945 and proudly based at HMNB Devonport Dockyard. For over 80 years, our family has served the armed forces community with the same dedication, precision, and care that has been passed down through three generations.

Our Story

Nora Hill was a Tailoress when she married John and taught him how to be a tailor’s cutter. Between the 1st and 2nd world wars, John worked for Bernard’s Uniforms as their head cutter until he was conscripted to the Navy for the Second World War.

1945

Whilst serving as a gunner in the Royal Navy towards the end of the 2nd world war, John was drafted to HMS Raleigh to deal with its tailoring and was consequently awarded the contract as the Tailor. John and Nora’s children helped out with the business by delivering the cut uniforms to the outworkers around Plymouth. At the age of 14, Henry, one of Nora and John’s sons, started working part time with his father. After a short break at 18 to carry out his national service in the Royal Navy at HMS Raleigh, Henry returned to Raleigh to learn the military tailoring trade from his father.

When John fell ill during one of his suit fittings, Henry rose to the challenge of completing his first unsupervised fitting.

1974

In 1974, the work at Raleigh was declining and, in order to keep his staff of 14 employed, Henry searched for tailoring work in different establishments. Upon request from CTCRM, which was having problems finding a tailor, Henry visited the Commando Training Centre and was immediately hired to clear its backlog of work. At this time, CTC also covered the work for four Royal Marine Bands: the Commando Training Centre; Dartmouth; HMS Raleigh; and Scotland.

1979

In 1979, Henry became the Tailor at Stonehouse Barracks. He also provided tailoring for 42CDO and most of the Royal Marines in the Plymouth area, along with 29CDO The Royal Citadel Army Camp.

In 2009, Victoria started working with her father, Henry, to start the 3rd generation of H. Hill family tailoring (although she and her sister had for years earned their pocket money in helping with the family business).

What began as a military tailoring service has grown into something far more personal. Over the decades, we have had the privilege of working alongside servicemen and women- and have come to understand just how much the small things matter.

That understanding shaped everything that we do today. Alongside our tailoring, we now craft handmade memory keepsakes.

Our Mission- Introducing Victoria Elizabeth

We want to provide more than a tailoring service we want to provide for the lifestyle. Through the new branch of our business Victoria Elizabeth, we get to bring together all our passions, military tailoring and country living.

The Family Behind the Brand

We're a small, family-run business and proud of it. Every order is handled personally, every question answered with care, and every product made with the knowledge that it means something to the person receiving it.

If you'd like to get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

📧 h.hill.militarytailoring@gmail.com
📍 HMNB Devonport Dockyard