Charley Hill (detective)
British art detective (1947-2021)
Charles Patrick Landon Hill (born Patrick Charles Landon Hill; 22 May 1947 – 20 February 2021) was a British-American art crime investigator and Vietnam veteran. He is best known for recovering Edvard Munch's The Scream three months after it was stolen. Hill also played a crucial role in the recovery of many of the paintings stolen by Martin Cahill from Russborough House.
Early life
Patrick Charles Landon Hill was born in Cambridge to Zita, a ballerina, and Landon Hill, a captain in the U.S. Air Force. The family frequently relocated between Britain, Germany, and the United States. He later switched his first and middle names, preferring to be called Charles instead of Patrick. Hill attended schools in Texas, London, Colorado, and Frankfurt, before finally settling in Washington, D.C., where he attended St. Albans School before entering Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Vietnam War
In 1968, Hill dropped out of college and volunteered to fight as a paratrooper in the Vietnam War with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, despite his opposition to the war. During a raid on an enemy encampment, Hill and two fellow soldiers found it deserted except for a wounded elderly Montagnard man, who had likely guided North Vietnamese troops through the mountain passes.
“Charley Hill (detective)” enters the record as british art detective (1947-2021). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Charley, Hill and detective can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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