John Glencairn Carter Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Dalzell (1829–1900), was a Scottish soldier and politician.
Hamilton was born in Marseilles, France, the only son of Archibald James Hamilton, 12th of Orbiston (1793–1834), and was educated at Eton College. He served in the 2nd Life Guards, rising to the rank of commissioned cornet in 1847, lieutenant in 1849 and captain in 1854. In 1856 he was appointed major in the Queen’s Own Royal Glasgow and Lower Ward of Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry. Although retiring from the regular Army in 1860, he continued to serve in the Yeomanry until 1885.
He began his political career in 1857 as Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Falkirk, serving for two years. He later sat for Lanarkshire South in 1868-74 and 1880-86. He also served as a Justice of the Peace, and as Deputy Lieutenant and Vice-Lord Lieutenant for Lanarkshire.
In 1886, Hamilton was raised to the peerage as Baron Hamilton of Dalzell. He served in William Ewart Gladstone's government as a Lord-in-Waiting from 1892 to 1894.
The Hamiltons made large amounts of money in the nineteenth century, as the lands they held in Lanarkshire were sold for coal exploitation. In the late 1850s and 1860s Hamilton was able to greatly extend his home of Dalzell House, a former tower house outside Motherwell, laying out landscaped grounds at the same time. In 1864 he married Lady Emily Leslie-Melville (d. 1882), daughter of David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven, and had issue:
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by James Merry |
Member of Parliament for Falkirk 1857–1859 |
Succeeded by James Merry |
New constituency | Member of Parliament for Lanarkshire South 1868–1874 |
Succeeded by Sir Windham Carmichael-Anstruther |
Preceded by Sir Windham Carmichael-Anstruther |
Member of Parliament for Lanarkshire South 1880–1886 |
Succeeded by James Hozier |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by New government |
Lord-in-Waiting 1892–1894 |
Succeeded by The Lord Hawkesbury |
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
New creation | Baron Hamilton of Dalzell 1886–1900 |
Succeeded by Gavin George Hamilton |