James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton

James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton and 2nd Duke of Brandon KT FRS (5 January 1703 – 2 March 1743) was a Scottish peer, the son of the 4th Duke of Hamilton.

Hamilton attended Winchester College from 1716 to 1717 and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford on 6 June 1719. He succeeded to his father's title of Duke of Hamilton in 1712. At the foundation of the noted charity, the Foundling Hospital in London, Hamilton was one of the charity's first governors and his name is listed on the organisation's royal charter, granted in October 1739.

On 14 February 1723 (St. Valentine's Day), Hamilton married Lady Anne Cochrane, a daughter of the 4th Earl of Dundonald and they had one child, James (1724–1758), later 6th Duke of Hamilton. Anne died from the effects of her first and only childbirth a month later and Hamilton married Elizabeth Strangways (an aunt of the future Countess of Ilchester), but she died childless on 3 November 1729. He then married Anne Spencer (an aunt of the future Countess of Galloway) on 21 August 1737 and they had three children:

• Lady Anne Hamilton (1738 – 11 November 1780)
• Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton (15 July 1740 – 16 February 1819)
• Lord Spencer Hamilton (1742 – 20 March 1791)

Hamilton died in 1743, aged 40 at Bath from jaundice and palsy. His widow married Richard Savage Nassau and had three more children.