Duke of Hamilton

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Coat of arms of the Dukes of Hamilton from the House of Hamilton
Coat of arms of the Dukes of Hamilton from the House of Douglas-Hamilton
Hamilton Palace, 1916 (demolished in 1927)
Lennoxlove House
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton

Duke of Hamilton is a hereditary British title in the Peerage of Scotland .

The Dukedom is the oldest still existing award of a Duke title of this peerage (after the Duke of Rothesay assigned to the royal family ), whereby the title holder is the Premier Peer of Scotland according to the protocol order of precedence . The respective Duke is also the hereditary clan chief of the Hamilton clan , as well as the head of the Hamilton and Douglas families . The Dukes' family seat was Hamilton Palace in South Lanarkshire until 1919 and is now Lennoxlove House in East Lothian .

Award and subordinate titles

The title was created on April 12, 1643 for James Hamilton, 3rd Marquess of Hamilton . Along with the duke he was awarded the subordinate titles of Marquess of Clydesdale , Earl of Arran and Lord Aven and Innerdale . The award was made with the special rule that the titles, in the absence of male descendants of their own, can also be inherited by his brother William and his male descendants, and in the absence of them also in the female line. Since the 1st Duke had no sons, all his titles fell to his brother William Hamilton as 2nd Duke in 1649 . This had already been awarded the titles of Earl of Lanark and Lord Machanshire and Polmont on March 31, 1639 .

When he died without offspring, his titles fell to his niece Anne , the daughter of the 1st duke, due to the special inheritance regulation . In 1656 she married William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk , from the noble family Douglas , who took the surname Douglas-Hamilton in 1660 and was elevated to Duke of Hamilton for life ( Life Peer ) . The Duke became High Commissioner and High Admiral of Scotland and hereditary administrator of Holyrood Palace , where the Hamiltons lived in part of the palace until the mid-19th century.

Their son inherited his mother as the 4th Duke in 1698 , who prematurely renounced her title in his favor. On September 10, 1711 he was raised in the Peerage of Great Britain to Duke of Brandon and Baron of Dutton . The Dukedoms Hamilton and Brandon have been united since then. Despite his English title, he was not admitted to the House of Lords because he was one of the main pillars of the Stuarts party in Scotland.

The 7th Duke of Hamilton also inherited the titles 4th Marquess of Douglas , 14th Earl of Angus and 4th Lord Abernerthy and Jedburgh Forest in 1761 . The eldest son of the respective duke has since been using the courtesy title Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale as heir apparent .

The later 10th Duke was appointed to the House of Lords on November 4, 1806 by Writ of Acceleration and thereby inherited the title 7th Baron Dutton from his father . In 1819 he also inherited the other titles.

The current title holder is Alexander Douglas-Hamilton as the 16th Duke of Hamilton and 13th Duke of Brandon.

Other titles

The 1st Duke had the titles of Marquess of Hamilton (1599), Earl of Arran (1503), Earl of Cambridge (1619), Baron of Innerdale (1619), Lord Hamilton (1445) and Lord Aven and Innerdale from his father as early as 1625 (1599) inherited. They were not inheritable in the female line and became extinct with the death of the 2nd duke in 1651 and the Earldom Arran (1503) and the Lordship Hamilton (1445) have been dormant since then.

The 12th Duke inherited the titles 8th Earl of Selkirk and 8th Lord Daer and Shortcleugh from his younger brother in 1886 . They fell to his younger son George Douglas-Hamilton as the 10th Earl when the 13th Duke died in 1940 due to a special inheritance regulation .

List of the Dukes of Hamilton (1643)

⚭ William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk , Duke of Hamilton (1635–1694)

Heir apparent is the son of the current Duke, Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale (* 2012).

literature

  • Charles Mosley (Ed.): Burke's Peerage and Baronetage . Volume 1, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Crans 1999, pp. 1283-1287.
  • Rosalind Marshall: The Days of Duchess Anne-Life in the Household of the Duchess of Hamilton 1656-1716. Edinburgh 2000.
  • Herbert Maxwell : A History of the House of Douglas-from the Earliest times down to the legislative union of England and Scotland. London 1902.

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