James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn

James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn, PC (Ire) (c. Template:Trim – 28 November 1734), was a Scottish and Irish peer and politician. Appointed a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II after his father's death in battle, he took the Williamite side at the Glorious Revolution and in March 1689 supplied Derry with stores that enabled the town to sustain the Siege of Derry until it was relieved in August. Shortly after inheriting a Scottish and Irish peerage from a second cousin, he was created a viscount in Ireland for his services to the Williamite cause.

Birth and origins

James was born in 1661 or 1662,Template:SfnTemplate:Efn the eldest son of James Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth Colepeper. His father, James the elder, was a colonel in the English army, Hyde Park Ranger, and a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II of England. His father's family was a cadet branch of the Abercorns that started with his grandfather Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong, who was the fourth son of the 1st Earl of Abercorn.

Family tree

James's mother was a daughter of John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper, an English courtier.Template:Sfn His parents married in 1661.Template:Sfn James, the younger, was one of six sons, of which three survived into adulthood.Template:Sfn and are listed in his father's article. James, the younger, was raised a Protestant as his father, who had originally been a Catholic, had converted to that faith to marry his mother.

Father's and grandfather's successions

On 6 June 1673 when he was about twelve years old, his father died from a wound received at a sea fight with the Dutch in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.Template:Sfn James, the younger, was compensated by an appointment as an extra groom of the bedchamber on 18 April 1680.Template:Sfn His father had predeceased his grandfather who still held the land of Donalong between Strabane and Derry in Ireland.

When his grandfather died in 1679, James, the younger, inherited the land and should have succeeded to his grandfather's baronetcy, i.e. Baronet Hamilton of Donalong, but he never assumed the title calling himself Captain Hamilton, his rank in the English army.Template:Sfn This might indicate that this baronetcy had never been properly created.Template:Sfn

Marriage and children

Captain Hamilton married the heiress Elizabeth Reading, daughter of Sir Robert Reading, 1st Baronet, of Dublin, and Jane Hannay, widow of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath, in January 1684.Template:Sfn Charles II issued a warrant on 22 January 1684 to create Hamilton "Baron Hamilton of Bellamont", county Dublin, in the Irish peerage, but it never passed the seals.Template:Sfn

James and Elizabeth had 14 children nine sons:

1. Robert (1687), died as a young childTemplate:Sfn
2. James (1686–1744), became the 7th EarlTemplate:Sfn
3. Robert, died very youngTemplate:Sfn
4. John (c. 1694 – 1714), never marriedTemplate:Sfn
5. George, died in infancyTemplate:Sfn
6. George (died 1775), MP, married and had issueTemplate:Sfn
7. Rev. Hon. Francis Hamilton (1700–1746), married and had issueTemplate:Sfn
8. William (1703–1721), was lost aboard HMS Royal Anne GalleyTemplate:Sfn
9. Charles (1704–1786), MP, married and had issueTemplate:Sfn

—and five daughters:

1. Elizabeth Hamilton, married firstly on 2 January 1711 William Brownlow, and secondly in 1741 Martin, Count de KearnieTemplate:Sfn Through her first marriage she is an ancestress of actor Ralph Fiennes.
2. Jane, died in infancyTemplate:Sfn
3. Mary (born before 1704), married in January 1719 Henry Colley of Carbury Castle, County Kildare and had issueTemplate:Sfn
4. Philippa Hamilton (died 1767), married Rev. Benjamin Pratt without issue, then married Michael O'Connell of London and had one sonTemplate:Sfn
5. Jane (before 1704 – 1753), married Archibald Douglas-Hamilton as his third wifeTemplate:Sfn She also was mistress to Frederick, Prince of Wales.Template:Sfn

Expedition to Derry

Captain Hamilton's post in the bedchamber ended with the King's death in 1685. He had entered a career in the army and held a commission in the English army of the new king, James II.

In 1688 at the Glorious Revolution he sided with William. In spring 1689 when war menaced in northern Ireland, he was sent to Derry with provisions in order to prepare the city for a likely siege. On 21 March 1689 heTemplate:Sfn arrived at Derry from England with two ships: the frigate and the merchantman Deliverance,Template:Sfn bringing gunpowder, munition, weapons, and £595 in cash.Template:Sfn These provisions were to be crucial during the Siege of Derry. He also brought the commission from King William and Queen Mary that confirmed Colonel Robert Lundy as Williamite governor of the town.Template:Sfn

He therefore helped to defend Derry. His uncle Richard Hamilton (officer), lieutenant-general in the Irish Royal Army, attacked it.Template:Sfn

Member of parliament

After the end of the Williamite war in Ireland, he was elected as one of the two MPs for County Tyrone in the Irish House of Commons on 22 September 1692 and again on 12 August 1695.Template:Sfn

File:James Hamilton 6th Earl of Abercorn.jpg

Lord Abercorn in parliamentary robes

Sixth Earl of Abercorn

In June 1701 died in Strabane his second cousin Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn, without surviving children.Template:Sfn Captain Hamilton was his second cousin. The great-grandfather they had in common was James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn (see Family tree). Captain Hamilton succeeded as 6th Earl of Abercorn in the Scottish and 7th Baron Hamilton of Strabane in the Irish peerage. His eldest, James, acquired the courtesy title Lord Paisley as the heir apparent. The new Lord Abercorn also entered into the possession of the corresponding lands.

About six months later, on 2 December 1701, Lord Abercorn was rewarded by King William with the titles of Viscount Strabane and Baron Mountcastle, both in the Peerage of Ireland.Template:Sfn The former was an enhancement of his title of Baron Hamilton of Strabane and was probably given to improve his precedence at the Irish House of Lords.

Lord Abercorn took his seat in the Irish House of Lords (as Viscount Strabane) on 21 September 1703, and in the Parliament of Scotland (as Earl of Abercorn) on 3 October 1706. By April 1711, he had been appointed also to the Privy Council of Ireland.

His father-in-law had built several lighthouses on Ireland's coast under a patent from Charles I. They had been made over to Hamilton as part of the dowry. In 1703 the Irish government found the lighthouses neglected and took them over. Hamilton was compensated by a payment of £3,000.Template:Sfn

Death, succession, and timeline

Abercorn died on 28 November 1734 at the age of 73Template:Sfn and was buried on 3 December in the Ormond vault of the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.Template:Sfn The Ormond Vault was opened in 1868 and was found to be filled with many coffins stacked one over the other. Their number was estimated at 59.Template:Sfn Individual identification beyond the top layer was not attempted. Abercorn's remains may well be there.

He was succeeded by his eldest son James as the 7th Earl. His wife died on 19 March 1754.Template:Sfn

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1661, about	Born
	1673, 6 Jun	Father died from a wound received in a sea fight against the Dutch.
	1679	Did not assume the title of Baronet Hamilton of Donalong and Nenagh at his grandfather's death.Template:Sfn
	1683, Jan	Married Elizabeth Reading.
	1685	Lost his office as groom of the bedchamber at Charles II's death.
	1688	Sided with William at the Glorious Revolution.
	1689, 21 Mar	Brought provisions to Derry.
	1692, 22 Sep	Elected MP for County Tyrone.
	1695, 12 Aug	Re-elected MP for County Tyrone.
	1701, Jun	Succeeded his second cousin Charles as 6th Earl of Abercorn.
	1701, 2 Sep	Created Baron Mountcastle and Viscount Strabane.
	1709	Mother died.Template:Sfn
	1734, 28 Nov	Died and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey.

Legacy

Abercorn Street in Savannah, Georgia, is named for the 6th Earl.Template:Sfn

Notes and references

Sources

• – Marriages, baptisms and burials from about 1660 to 1875
• – (Preview)
• – 1649 to 1664
• – Ab-Adam to Basing
• – Viscounts
• – 1558 to 1699
• – Abercorn to Balmerino
• – (Snippet view)
• – with the report of the examination of the Ormond Vault in 1868

External links

• Robert O. Bucholz Database of Court Officers 1660 – 1837 Loyola University of Chicago