William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton

William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton KG (14 December 1616 – 12 September 1651) was a Scottish nobleman who supported both Royalist and Presbyterian causes during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

He was created Earl of Lanark in 1639, and in April 1640 was elected Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in the House of Commons of England for the Short Parliament.^[1] He became Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1643, he was arrested at Oxford on the orders of King Charles I for "concurrence" with his brother the Duke of Hamilton. He escaped and was temporarily reconciled with the Presbyterian party.

After taking part in the Battle of Kilsyth on the covenanter side, he was sent by the Scottish Estates of the Realm to treat with Charles I at Newcastle in 1646, when he sought in vain to persuade the king to consent to the establishment of Presbyterianism in England. On 26 September 1647 he signed, on behalf of the Scots, the treaty with Charles known as the "Engagement", at Carisbrooke Castle, and helped to organize the Second English Civil War.

In 1648 he fled to Holland. The following year he succeeded to the Dukedom of Hamilton on his brother's execution, making him the most senior figure among the Scots Royalist exiles. He returned to Scotland with King Charles II in 1650, but, finding a reconciliation with the Marquess of Argyll impossible, he refused to prejudice Charles’s cause by pushing his claims.

He lived in retirement until the Scottish invasion of England during the Third English Civil War, when he acted as colonel of a regiment drawn mainly from his tenantry.

He died from the effects of wounds received at the Battle of Worcester, at The Commandery, Charles II's headquarters in that city. A neighbouring street, Hamilton Road, is named in his honour.

He left four daughters but no male heirs. Thus, according to the remainder, the dukedom of Hamilton devolved on his eldest surviving niece, Anne, who became Duchess of Hamilton in her own right. All of his four daughters married, some more than once; he had seven sons-in-law.

References

• Balfour Paul, Sir JamesThe Scots Peerage Vols IX. Edinburgh 1907 [1]
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Marquesses and Dukes of Hamilton". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Marquesses_And_Dukes_Of_Hamilton. 

External links

• thepeerage.com page
• Hamilton's last letter to his wife