About the town » Hilton, uMgungundlovu District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Hilton is a small town (now incorporated into the town of Howick to the North West) that lies on the brow of the escarpment above Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 1872 the Reverend WO Newnham opened Hilton College here, one of South Africa's leading private schools. The man who named Hilton was Joseph Henderson (1825–1899): merchant, banker, financier and politician. He married Jane Maidstone née Pearson on the 13th Aug 1849 in Pietermaritzburg and accompanied Theophilus Shepstone as adviser to the Transvaal in 1877. Education in Hilton includes Cowan House, a private mixed boarding school for over 300 pupils. The school, founded in 1948 was completely destroyed in a fire in 1997 and was rebuilt the same year. Also St Annes Diocesan College for Girls, Grace College, and Laddsworth Primary School.