Baron Hamilton of Dalzell

Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, in the County of Lanark,[1] is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1886 for the Liberal politician John Hamilton. He had previously represented Falkirk and Lanarkshire South in the House of Commons and after his elevation to the peerage served under William Ewart Gladstone as a Government Whip from 1892 to 1894. His eldest son, the second Baron, was a Government Whip from 1905 to 1911 in the Liberal administrations of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire. His nephew, the third Baron, was Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. As of 2010 the title is held by the latter's grandson, the fifth Baron, who succeeded his father in 2006.

The territorial designation is pronounced /diːɛl/ as in the usual pronunciation of the Scottish surname. The ancient family seat, Dalzell House in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, was sold in 1952. The third Baron lived at Beckington Castle in Somerset.

In 1980, James Hamilton, later to become the 4th Baron, inherited the Apley Hall estate of some 8,500 acres in Shropshire and the Betchworth estate in Surrey on the death of his cousin Major General E. H. Goulburn. Hamilton and his family had lived at Betchworth since the early 1970s, and it remains the principal family seat.[2] The village hall at Betchworth is named the Hamilton Rooms after the family.

The Conservative politician Archie Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom, was the second son of the third Baron.

Barons Hamilton of Dalzell (1886)

The heir apparent to the title is the Hon. Francis Alexander James Goulburn Hamilton (b. 2009), the present holder's son.

Notes

  1. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25617. p. 4007. 17 August 1886.
  2. ↑ History at apleyestate.co.uk, accessed 19 May 2014

References