John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn

John Hamilton
Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Born	July 1756
Title	1st Marquess of Abercorn
Other titles	9th Earl of Abercorn
Nationality	Irish
Predecessor	James Hamilton, 8th Earl of Abercorn
Successor	James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn
Spouse(s)	Catherine Copley Lady Cecil Hamilton Lady Anne Jane Gore
Parents	John Hamilton Harriet Eliot

John James Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn KG, PC (Ire) (July 1756 – 27 January 1818) was an Irish peer and politician.

Background

He was the son of Captain Hon. John Hamilton and grandson of James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn. He was educated at Harrow and Pembroke College, Cambridge.^[1] There he became the friend of William Pitt the Younger, a connection that would serve him well in later years.

Career

He was a Tory Member of Parliament for two boroughs in Cornwall from 1783 to 1789, when he succeeded to the Earldom. He was a supporter of his friend Pitt's first ministry, and a friend of William Pitt the Younger. He was created 1st Marquess of Abercorn on 15 October 1790, doubtless due to his political connections.

He was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland on 7 February 1794. Most of the Abercorn lands were in Ireland, and the Marquess made great efforts to build a voting bloc in the Irish Parliament from County Donegal and County Tyrone, although with relatively little success. He was invested as a Knight of the Garter on 17 January 1805.

George W. E. Russell provided the following sketch of his aristocratic character:

This admirable nobleman always went out shooting in his Blue Ribbon, and required his housemaids to wear white kid gloves when they made his bed. Before he married his first cousin, Miss Cecil Hamilton, he induced the Crown to confer on her the titular rank of an Earl's daughter, that he might not marry beneath his position; and, when he discovered that she contemplated eloping, he sent a message begging her to take the family coach, as it ought never to be said that Lady Abercorn left her husband's roof in a hack chaise.^[2]

Family

He married, firstly, Catherine Copley, daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet, on 20 June 1779. They had five children:

• Lady Harriet Margaret Hamilton (1780–1803), died unmarried.
• Lady Maria Hamilton (1782–1814), died unmarried.
• Lady Catherine Elizabeth Hamilton (1784–1812), married George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen and had issue.
• James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton (1786–1814), married Harriet Douglas, granddaughter of James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton and had issue.
• Lord Claud Hamilton (1787–1808), died unmarried.

He married, secondly, his first cousin, Cecil Hamilton, daughter of Reverend The Hon. George Hamilton, on 4 March 1792, but they were divorced in 1799 by an Act of Parliament. They had one child:

• The Lady Cecil Frances Hamilton (19 July 1795 – 7 July 1860), married William Howard, 4th Earl of Wicklow and had issue.

He married, thirdly, Lady Anne Jane Gore, daughter of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran, on 3 April 1800.

Lord Abercorn died in 1818, aged 61 at Bentley Priory, Stanmore and his titles passed to his grandson, James Hamilton.

References

1. "Hamilton, John James (HMLN773JJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
2. George W. E. Russell, Collections & Recollections (Revised edition, Smith Elder & Co, London, 1899), at page 77.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Marquess of Abercorn
• Abercorn papers