John Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Dalzell

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 Burghs, 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 (died 1882), daughter of David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven, and had issue:

  1. Ellinor Hamilton (1865–1957)
  2. Archibald John Hamilton (1868–1870)
  3. Gavin George Hamilton (1872– 1952), later 2nd baron
  4. Leslie d'Henin Hamilton (1873–1914)
  5. John David Hamilton (1878–1900)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Merry
Member of Parliament for Falkirk Burghs
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


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.