William John Hamilton
William John Hamilton, FRS (5 July 1805 – 27 June 1867) was an English geologist born in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.
He was the son of William Richard Hamilton, FRS (1777–1859) and was educated at Charterhouse School and the University of Göttingen.
He became a fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1831. In 1835 he made a geological tour of the Levant with Hugh Edwin Strickland, continuing on his own through Armenia and across Asia Minor. This journey was described in Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia (1842). Hamilton was the first known person to have successfully climbed Mount Erciyes.
He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newport, Isle of Wight from 1841 to 1847.[1]
Hamilton was president of the Royal Geographical Society for 1848-49 and of the Geological Society between 1854 and 1866. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1855.[2]
He made excursions in France and Belgium and wrote on the rocks and minerals of Tuscany, the agate quarries of Oberstein, and on the geology of the Mayence basin and the Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) district.
He died in London in 1867. He had married secondly Margaret Dillon, the daughter of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon. His son Alexander Charles successfully claimed the title of 10th Lord Belhaven and Stenton.
References
- ↑ "Mr William Hamilton (Hansard)". Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- ↑ "Fellows Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
- Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Hamilton, William John". Dictionary of National Biography. 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by William John Blake Charles Wykeham Martin |
Member of Parliament for Newport 1841 – 1847 With: John Heywood Hawkins |
Succeeded by William Plowden Charles Wykeham Martin |