James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton
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Lieutenant-General James Douglas-Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, 1st Duke of Brandon and 1st Baron of Dutton, KG, KT, (11 November 1658 – 15 November 1712) was a Scottish nobleman, the Premier Peer of Scotland and Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He was a Master of the Great Wardrobe, Master-General of the Ordnance, Ambassador, and Colonel-in-Chief of his regiment.
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[edit] Early life
The eldest son of William Douglas-Hamilton, 1st Earl of Selkirk (created Duke of Hamilton for his lifetime in 1660) and his wife Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton in her own right, Hamilton was born at Hamilton Palace, in Lanarkshire. He was styled until 1698 as the Earl of Arran. Arran was educated by a series of tutors, until he was of age to attend the University of Glasgow. Following this he travelled to the continent on the Grand Tour, fashionable amongst young noblemen of the time.
In 1679, Arran was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber by Charles II. Later in 1683, he was accredited ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV of France. Arran remained in France for over a year, taking part in two campaigns in French service. On his return to Great Britain following the accession of James VII, he brought letters of personal recommendation from Louis to the new King. King James reaffirmed Arran in his offices. Arran was in the first cohort of James VII's royal Order of the Thistle in 1687, and following the deposition of James, Arran refused to join the party of the Prince of Orange, indeed he was imprisoned twice in the Tower of London, suspected of intrigues, but was released without charge.
[edit] Duke of Hamilton
Arran's father died in 1694, and in July 1698 his mother resigned all her titles into the hand of King William, who regranted them to Arran a month later in a charter signed at Het Loo, Netherlands. He was conferred with the titles: Duke of Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Arran, Earl of Lanark, Earl of Cambridge, Lord Aven, Polmont, Machansyre, and Innerdale.[1] This regrant of title was presumably more to do with the loyalty of Arran's parents to William III, rather than that of his own questionable affection to the House of Orange and suspected Jacobitism.
[edit] Darien and the Act of Union
Hamilton's formation of a Political grouping in support of the Darien Scheme, in the Parliament of Scotland, was a further break from the zeitgeist prevalent in London at the time. Hamilton and his mother had heavily invested in the doomed expedition.
Following the failure of Darien, and with the country bankrupted, serious machinations began proposing the political union between the two realms of Scotland and England. Hamilton was assumed to be the head of the anti-union Scottish Party, perhaps due to his serious claim to the throne of Scotland. His political conduct proved ineffective, and he wavered between both the Court and the National parties. On the day of the final vote on the matter, Hamilton abstained and remained in his chambers at Holyrood Palace claiming to be indisposed by toothache. The highly unpopular Acts of Union were passed, and riots followed in the streets of Edinburgh.
[edit] Post Union
Hamilton was chosen as on of 16 Scottish Representative Peers in 1708. He was created Duke of Brandon, Suffolk in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1711, this drew criticism as to legality of his position and ability to sit in the House of Lords, the situation was not resolved until 1782 for the 6th Duke of Hamilton . In addition to the Dukedom, Hamilton was created Baron Dutton in Cheshire.In October 1712 he was created a Knight of the Garter, making him the only Non-Royal to be a knight of both Thistle and Garter.
[edit] The Gerard Inheritance and Death
On 15 November 1712, Hamilton fought a celebrated duel with Charles Mohun, Lord Mohun in the Hyde Park, London, in an episode narrated in Thackeray’s The History of Henry Esmond. Following the death of the 3rd Earl of Macclesfield without heir in 1702, a disagreement had arisen over who should succeed to his extensive estates, based at Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire. Hamilton claimed the estates through his wife Elizabeth Gerard a granddaughter of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, Mohun claimed them as named heir to Charles Gerard, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield to whom he had been a companion-in-arms. The years of litigation that followed, culminated in Mohun calling Hamilton out. The duel took place on the morning of the 15th, the older Hamilton, mortally wounded Mohun, but was himself killed by Mohun's second, George MacCartney. Both seconds MacCartney, and Hamilton's Colonel John Hamilton escaped to the continent and were tried in absentia for Murder, but were both later pardoned.
[edit] Marriage and issue
In 1686 Hamilton married Lady Anne Spencer, a daughter of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland. They had two daughters, although neither survived childhood. Anne died shortly after the birth of the second daughter in 1690.
Hamilton married secondly Elizabeth Gerard, daughter of Digby Gerard, Baron Gerard in 1698, and had seven children:
- Lady Elizabeth Hamilton (1699-1702)
- Lady Catherine Hamilton (c.1700-1712)
- Lady Charlotte Hamilton (c.1701-1777)
- Lady Susan Hamilton (c.1702-1753)
- James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703-1743)
- Lord William Hamilton (c.1703-1734)
- Lord Anne Hamilton (1709-1748), ancestor of the 13th and subsequent Dukes of Hamilton.
In addition Hamilton had an illegitimate son, Lt. Col. Sir James Abercrombie, 1st Baronet, born prior to 1680, who died at Dunkirk in 1724. He had a second illegitimate son, Charles Hamilton, by Barbara Fitzroy, as well as two daughters named Ruthven.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Scot's Peerage Vol IV,p.383
[edit] Sources
- Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots Peerage IX vols. Edinburgh 1907
- Stater, Victor.Duke Hamilton is Dead!-A story of aristocratic life and death in Stuart Britain. New York 1999
