Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong facts for kids

Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet of Donalong and Nenagh (c. 1608 – 1679), born in Scotland into a Catholic family, inherited land in Ireland and served his brother-in-law, the 1st Duke of Ormond, a Protestant, in diplomatic missions during the Confederate Wars and as receiver-general of the royalists. He also defended Nenagh Castle against Henry Ireton during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Hamilton was father of Antoine Hamilton, author of the Mémoires du Comte de Grammont, of Richard Hamilton, Jacobite general, and of Elizabeth, Countess de Gramont, "la belle Hamilton".

Birth and origins

George was born about 1608 in Scotland, probably in Paisley, Renfrewshire, near Glasgow. He was the fourth son of James Hamilton and his wife, Marion Boyd. His father had been created Earl of Abercorn by James VI and I in 1606. His paternal grandfather was the 1st Lord Paisley.

George's mother was the eldest daughter of the 6th Lord Boyd, of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in the south-west of Scotland. Both grandfathers had fought for Mary, Queen of Scots in 1568 at Langside.

George was one of nine siblings. See his brothers James and Claude. George's father was a Protestant, but his mother, Marion Boyd, was a recusant.

Early life

Hamilton was about 10 in 1618 when his father died. His uncle, Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea, became his guardian and converted him like all his siblings to the Catholic faith.

Hamilton's father had been an undertaker in James I's 1611 Plantation of Ulster and had as such acquired large estates in Ireland, mainly around Strabane, County Tyrone. Hamilton's eldest brother, James, succeeded as 2nd earl of Abercorn, but the Irish lands were shared among the younger sons according to his father's will. Strabane, the most prestigious part, went to Hamilton's elder brother Claud. Hamilton inherited Donalong, a great proportion (2000 acres). His father had predeceased his paternal grandfather, the 1st Lord Paisley, who died three years later in 1621. Hamilton's eldest brother, James, the 2nd Earl of Abercorn, inherited at that time the title of Lord Paisley and the family's Scottish lands.

By 1625 Hamilton, together with Sir Basil Brooke and Sir George Russell, had acquired rights to the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine at Knockanroe in the Silvermine Mountains near the village of Silvermines, south of Nenagh. In 1627 Hamilton succeeded Sir Roger Hope to the command of a company of foot in the Irish Army. In 1632 Hamilton's mother died in Edinburgh and was buried with her husband in Paisley Abbey.

By 1634 Hamilton was commonly called Sir George and was supposed to be a knight and a baronet. The territorial designation and the baronetage (country) of this first baronetcy are unknown. A second attempt would later be made to create him a baronet implying that the first one had not succeeded.

Marriage and children

In 1635 Hamilton married Mary Butler, third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles. Her eldest brother, the 12th earl of Ormond, later marquess and duke, and also Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, thereby became his brother-in-law.

George and Mary had six sons:

1. James (died 1673), became ranger of Hyde Park and died from having lost a leg in a sea-fight
2. George (died 1676), killed in French service at the Col de Saverne
3. Anthony (c. 1645 – 1719), fought for the Jacobites and wrote the Mémoires du comte de Grammont
4. Thomas (died 1687), served in the Royal Navy and died in Boston, Massachusetts
5. Richard (died 1717), fought for the Jacobites and was taken prisoner at the Boyne
6. John (died 1691), Colonel in the Irish army, was killed in the Battle of Aughrim

—and three daughters:

1. Elizabeth (1641–1708), a famous beauty, married Philibert de Gramont
2. Lucia (died 1676), married Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet, of Leamaneh Castle, a Protestant, in 1674
3. Margaret, married in July 1674 Mathew Forde of Seaforde, County Down, and of Coolgreany, County Wexford

Mistaken identity

Hamilton shared his name and surname with his paternal uncle George, his guardian. Their wifes also shared their names: both were Mary Butler. The younger Mary was his wife, whereas the elder was a daughter of Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond. The younger couple lived at Nenagh, the elder at Roscrea. Carte (1736) already confused them. Hamilton married in 1635, but earlier dates are reported in error due to the confusion.

Midlife

In May 1640, Ormond, Hamilton's brother-in-law, granted him the manor, castle, town, and lands of Nenagh for 31 years. Ormond was appointed lieutenant-general (commander-in-chief) of the Irish army in September.

In 1641 Hamilton accompanied King Charles I on his visit to Scotland. At the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion, Hamilton was, while in England, suspected of supporting the rebellion as he was Catholic. He was arrested and shortly held at the Tower of London but was soon released on bail.

Jean Gordon, widow of his elder brother Claud (died in 1638), lost her home when Phelim O'Neill burned Strabane Castle in December 1641. Hamilton accommodated her and her children at Nenagh.

On 2 February 1642 the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine, which Hamilton operated together with Basil Brooks and Sir William Russell, was attacked by local rebels led by Hugh O'Kennedy and his English miners were killed.

On 5 June 1646 at Benburb the Confederate Ulster army under Owen Roe O'Neill defeated the Covenanters under Robert Monro. O'Neill then marched south to Kilkenny as directed by Rinuccini, the papal nuncio. Leinster and Munster were treated as enemy territory. On 17 September 1646, O'Neill took Roscrea, but Nenagh was not attacked at that time. O'Neill then menaced Dublin in November 1646.

In January 1647 Hamilton returned to Dublin with instructions from the king directing Ormond to hand Dublin over to the English rather than to the Irish. Ormond abandoned Dublin in July to the parliamentarians and left for England.

Phelim MacTuoll O'Neill stormed Nenagh in 1648, but it was retaken by Inchiquin in the same year by undermining the castle's wall. Hamilton seems to have been elsewhere. In August 1648 he was with Ormond in France at the queen's court at the Château-Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. On 21 September Hamilton left Saint-Germain with the queen's instructions and brought them to Ormond at Le Havre where a Dutch man-of-war, sent by William II, Prince of Orange, lay ready to bring Ormond to Cork where he landed on 29 September 1648. In January 1649 Ormond appointed Hamilton receiver-general of the revenues for Ireland succeeding to Lord Roscommon. He was also made colonel of a regiment of foot and appointed governor of Nenagh Castle. At the end of 1650 when the parliamentarian army under Henry Ireton was on its way back from the unsuccessful siege of Limerick to its winter quarters at Kilkenny, troops under Daniel Abbot attacked Nenagh Castle, which Hamilton tried to defend. He surrendered the castle end of October or beginning November 1650 after the parliamentarians had menaced to breach its walls with artillery.

The keep of Nenagh Castle

French exile

Hamilton's Irish lands were confiscated by the parliamentarians, and in spring 1651 he and his family followed Ormond into French exile. They first went to Caen where Ormond's wife Elizabeth Preston lived since 1648. Lady Ormond with her children returned to England in August 1652, and Lady Hamilton went to Paris where she lived in the convent of the Feuillantines. In 1656 or 1657 Charles sent him, together with Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, to Madrid on a diplomatic mission.

Restoration and death

After the Restoration in 1660, Hamilton returned to London and stayed at the court of Charles II at Whitehall. About 1660 the king created him a baronet for a second time. This baronetcy was styled of Donalong and Nenagh. Some say it was in the peerage of Ireland, others in that of Scotland. Lodge (1789b) says it was in the baronetage of Nova Scotia. His grandson James, who should have succeeded as the 2nd baronet, never claimed the title, which might again have been invalid. Cokayne (1903) comments "This non-assumption of the dignity throws some little doubt on its creation."

Hamilton's lands in Ulster were restored to him. He died in 1679 at the age of 71 or 72. He was succeeded by his grandson James, who would later succeed to the earldom of Abercorn.