Lord Archibald Hamilton

Lord Archibald Hamilton
Died	5 April 1754
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Captain
Commands held	Greenwich Hospital

Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccarton and Pardovan (bapt. 17 February 1673 – 5 April 1754) was a Scottish officer of the Royal Navy, and British politician.

Life

Hamilton was the youngest son of William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton and Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton.

Following studies at Glasgow University, Archibald was sent to study under the Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed in London, thereafter taking a commission aboard the HMS Resolution.^[1]

He was commissioned a Captain on 11 September 1693 and by the end of 1694 was appointed to a new 48 gun vessel, the Litchfield at Portsmouth. In 1695 he was active in the English Channel pursuing French privateers, including the Tyger out of St Malo, an encounter commemorated in a painting by Willem van de Velde the Younger.^[2]

In 1704 Hamilton, in command of HMS Eagle, was present at the Capture of Gibraltar and the Battle of Málaga.

In 1708, he was elected as MP for Lanarkshire. Hamilton held the seat until 1710, then served as Governor of Jamaica from 1711–1716.

He played a controversial role in setting up some of the founders of the infamous Bahamanian pirate gang, including Henry Jennings, for which he was arrested and brought back to England by the Royal Navy.^[3] He was ultimately released and, later, was re-elected for Lanarkshire, then for Queenborough in 1735 and Dartmouth in 1742. Hamilton was also a Lord of the Admiralty from 1729–38 and Governor of Greenwich Hospital from 1746 until his death. For much of his life, he lived at Park Place at Remenham in Berkshire.

Family

Hamilton's first wife was Anne Cary (a daughter of the 2nd Baron Lucas and mother of the 6th Viscount Falkland). She died in 1709 and Hamilton then married Anne, Lady Hamilton (widow of Sir Francis Hamilton, 3rd Baronet). His second wife died in 1719 and later that year, he married Lady Jane Hamilton (a daughter of the 6th Earl of Abercorn). Hamilton and his third wife later had six children:

Elizabeth Hamilton, later Countess of Warwick (1720–1800), and her brother William Hamilton (1730–1803) (William Hoare)

• Charles (?-1751) Married Mary Dufresne.
• Elizabeth (1720–1800), married Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick (10 October 1719 6 July 1773)
• Frederic (1728–1811), religious minister. Married 11 June 1757 Rachel Daniel.
• Archibald (accidentally drowned, 1744)
• William Hamilton (1730–1803), diplomat. Married 25 January 1758 Catherine Barlow (died 1783). Married 6 September 1795 Emma Hart (died 1815).
• Jane (19 August 1726 – 13 November 1771), married 24 July 1753 Charles Schaw later Charles Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart.

References

1. Marshall, pp145-146
2. "LORD ARCHIBALD HAMILTON IN THE LICHFIELD ENGAGING THE ST. MALO PRIVATEER TYGER, 11TH DECEMBER 1695". Sothebys.
3. Woodard, Colin (2007). The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, Inc. pp. 122–131, 142–43, 196. ISBN 978-0-15-603462-3.

• “The Seawolves: Pirates and Scots” by Eric J. Graham
• Marshall, Rosalind K. The Days of Duchess Anne, Tuckwell Press 2000.(1st ed. Collins 1973)

External links

• Hamilton biography at Republic of Pirates

^[1]

1. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org