James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye

James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye (* 1559 in Dunlop , Ayrshire ; † January 24, 1644 ) was a Scottish nobleman who gained great estates and peerage in Ireland .

Life

He belonged to the Hamilton family and was a son of the Reverend Hans Hamilton (1536-1608), Vicar of Dunlop, and Janet Denham († 1628), daughter of James Denham, Laird of West Shield in Ayrshire.

In 1585 he graduated from the University of St Andrews as a Master of Arts . In 1587 he went to Ireland and worked there as a teacher. In 1593 he became one of the first two fellows of the Trinity College of Dublin University, founded the previous year, and taught there from then on. In 1598 he became treasurer of Trinity College.

He served as an agent for King James VI. of Scotland , whom he kept informed about the activities of Queen Elizabeth I of England in Ireland, and campaigned for Irish support for Jacob's successor claim to the English throne at the death of childless Elizabeth. He finally gave up his position at Trinity College and moved to the English royal court in London , where he took part in secret negotiations on the succession to the throne from August 1600. In 1603 it was he who brought the official news of Elizabeth's death to Scotland.

He was a Presbyterian . In November 1605 King Jacob granted him large estates in County Down, namely Claneboye and the Great Ardes, which had been stripped of their previous Gaelic-Irish and Catholic masters after an unsuccessful revolt against the Anglican king. He recruited Scottish settlers in his Scottish homeland, especially the lands of his extensive relatives, whom he invited to his lands in Ireland on favorable lease terms. The first group of these Ulster Scots arrived in Ireland in May 1606, four years before the Plantation of Ulster was founded . On November 14, 1609, King Jacob proposed him to a Knight Bachelor degree in Royston , Hertfordshire . In 1611 he founded a new settlement around Bangor , where he lived. From 1613 to 1615 he was a Member of the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament for the constituency of County Down . In 1617 he had the Bangor Abbey church restored. In 1619 he was Commissioner for the Plantation of Longford . On May 4, 1622 he was raised in the Peerage of Ireland to Viscount Claneboye , in the County of Down, and received a seat in the Upper House of the Irish Parliament. On July 14, 1634 he was appointed to the Irish Privy Counselor . In 1637 he had the Old Custom House built at the port of Bangor, trying to establish Bangor as the most important port in Ulster . In April 1642 he commanded a cavalry unit fighting Irish rebels.

He died in 1644 and was buried in Bangor Abbey Church.

Marriages and offspring

He was married three times. In his first marriage he married Hon. Ursula Brabazon, daughter of Edward Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon . The marriage remained childless. After Ursula's death, he married Penelope Cook († 1625) for the second time. The marriage remained childless and was eventually divorced. In his third marriage he married Jane Philipps († 1644), daughter of Sir John Philipps, 1st Baronet (1566–1629). With her he had a son, James Hamilton († 1659), who inherited him in 1644 as the 2nd Viscount Claneboye and in 1647 was also raised to Earl of Clanbrassil .

Web links

• James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye on thepeerage.com
• RJ Hunter: Hamilton, James, first Viscount Claneboye (c.1560-1644) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press 2004, ISBN 019861411X .

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Viscount Claneboye 1622-1644	James Hamilton