James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton
James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton KG , KT , (born November 11, 1658 in Hamilton Palace , Lanarkshire , † November 15, 1712 in London ) was a Scottish - British nobleman , politician and general .
Life
He was the eldest son of William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton (1634-1694) and Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton (1632-1716). As his mother's apparent marriage , he had the courtesy title of Earl of Arran from birth .
Raised by private tutors , he studied at Glasgow University and then went on a grand tour . From 1679 to 1688 he held the court office of Gentleman of the Bedchamber . From 1683 to 1685, as well as 1686, he served as envoy to the French court in Paris . In 1685 he set up a cuirassier regiment, later the 6th Regiment of Horse , on the occasion of the Monmouth Rebellion and became its colonel . In 1687 he was accepted as a Knight Companion in the Thistle Order . In 1688 he was promoted to Brigadier General . From 1688 to 1689 he held the court office of Master of the Great Wardrobe for King James II . When the Glorious Revolution broke out, he escorted the king to Rochester in Kent , from where the king fled into exile by ship. In 1689 he was temporarily imprisoned in the Tower of London . In 1693 he was promoted to lieutenant general .
In 1698, his mother renounced her title of nobility in his favor, making him 4th Duke of Hamilton and member of the Scottish Parliament . The Union between England and Scotland he fought initially, but supported them later. During Queen Anne's reign he was one of the mainstays of the Stuarts Party in Scotland. In 1708 he was elected to the British House of Lords as the Scottish Representative Peer . In 1710 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire for life and accepted into the Privy Council . On September 10, 1711 he was awarded the British nobility titles Duke of Brandon and Baron Dutton , with the special addition that these titles could be passed on to his brothers and their male descendants in the absence of legitimate male descendants. The House of Lords refused him recognition of his seat in the House of Lords, which was actually connected with these titles, although he remained as a Scottish representative peer member of that house. In September 1712 he was appointed Master General of the Ordnance appointed and in the in October 1712 as a Knight Companion Order of the Garter was added.
On November 15, 1712 there was a degendual duel between Lord Hamilton and Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun , who was notorious for his frequent duels in Hyde Park . Both duelists were killed. Seconds George Macartney and John Hamilton were charged with manslaughter for failing to prevent the gruesome fight. The writer William Makepeace Thackeray edited this story in his novel The History of Henry Esmond .
In August 1712 he had been appointed British ambassador to Paris, but he died before he could take up the post.
progeny
He had an illegitimate son with an unknown lady:
- Sir James Abercrombie, 1st Baronet (1680–1724), Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and Town Major of Dunkirk .
In 1687 he married Lady Anne Spencer (1667–1690), daughter of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland . She bore him a daughter in 1689 and 1690, both of whom died shortly after their birth. When the latter was born, Anne also died.
After the death of his first wife, he entered into a relationship with Lady Barbara Fitzroy (1672–1737), daughter of Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland , and had two illegitimate twin sons with her:
- Charles Hamilton (* 1691);
- William Hamilton (1691–1754), Lieutenant-Colonel of the Scots Grays , ⚭ Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of John Campbell of Mamore.
Lady Barbara Fitzroy then became a nun in the monastery of Pontoise in France.
In 1698 he married the second marriage Hon. Elizabeth Gerard (1680–1744), daughter of Digby Gerard, 5th Baron Gerard of Gerard's Bromley with whom he had the following children:
- Lady Elizabeth Hamilton (1700-1702);
- Lady Catherine Hamilton (1701-1712);
- Lady Susan Hamilton (after 1702–1755) ⚭ 1736 Anthony Tracy-Keck;
- James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703-1743);
- Lord William Hamilton († 1734), Knight of the Shire for Lanarkshire ;
- Lady Charlotte Hamilton (around 1707–1777) ⚭ 1736 Charles Edwin;
- Lord Anne Hamilton (1709–1748) ⚭ 1742 Anna Charlotte Maria Powell - his descendants inherited the descendants of his older brother as Dukes of Hamilton in 1895 with Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton .
His titles of nobility fell to his eldest surviving legitimate son James as the 5th Duke of Hamilton.
literature
- John Anderson: James, Earl of Arran, fourth Duke of Hamilton . In: James Balfour Paul (Ed.): The Scots Peerage . tape 4 : Fife-Hyndford . David Douglas, Edinburgh 1907, p. 383–392 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- HCG Matthew (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995 ( on thepeerage.com ).
Web links
- Lt.-Gen. James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton on thepeerage.com
- Hamilton, Duke of (p. 1643) at Cracroft's Peerage
Individual evidence
- ↑ FM Powicke, EB Fryde (Ed.): Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society, London 1961, p. 478.
- ↑ FM Powicke, EB Fryde (Ed.): Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society, London 1961, p. 418.
- ↑ George Edward Cokayne et al. (Ed.): The Complete Peerage . Volume 6, Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester 2000, p. 268.
| Predecessors | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Anne Hamilton |
Duke of Hamilton 1698-1712 |
James Hamilton |
| New title created |
Duke of Brandon 1711-1712 |
James Hamilton |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hamilton, James, 4th Duke of Hamilton |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hamilton, James, Earl of Arran |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish-British nobleman, politician and general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 11, 1658 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamilton Palace , Lanarkshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 15, 1712 |
| Place of death | London |