Family and Education

b. c.1706, 2nd s. of James, 4th Duke of Hamilton, by Elizabeth, da. and h. of Digby, 5th Baron Gerard of Gerard’s Bromley. m. 30 Apr. 1733, Frances, da. and h. of Francis Hawes of Purley Hall, Berks., s.p.

Offices Held

Biography

Lord William Hamilton was the brother of the 5th Duke of Hamilton, the head of the Jacobite interest in Scotland. There were unfounded reports that he was to be given a troop of horse in 1726, when George I recalled the Duke of Hamilton from Rome, where he had been seeing the Pretender.1 Made a lord of the bedchamber by George II, the Duke never performed his duties, continued to correspond with the Pretender,2 and was dismissed in 1733. In that year, without the Duke’s knowledge, Lord William eloped with the pretty but penniless daughter of one of the South Sea directors, whose estate had been confiscated in 1721.3 Returned for Lanarkshire next year on his brother’s interest, he died two months later, 11 July.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Lockhart Pprs. ii. 62, 267-8, 319-20; HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 7.
• 2. Stuart mss 208/124, 215/154.
• 3. HMC Carlisle, 95, 114.