Hamilton, a great historical family, is believed to be of English origin. The pedigree of the family, however, cannot be carried beyond Walter Fitz-Gilbert (son of Gilbert), called Hamilton, who in 1296 held lands in Lanarkshire, and swore fealty to King Edward I. of England as overlord of Scotland, and in 1314 kept the castle of Bothwell, on the Clyde, for the English. His surrender of this strong fortress, and of the English knights and nobles who had fled to it from the field of Bannockburn, was rewarded by King Robert Bruce by grants of the lands and baronies of Cadzow and Machanshire in Clydesdale, Kinneil and Larbert in West Lothian, and other lands forfeited by the Cumyns and other adherents of England. He attained the rank of knighthood, and married Mary, daughter of Sir Adam of Gordon of Huntly. He left two sons. The elder, Sir David Fitz-Walter, was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, founded a chantry in the cathedral of Glasgow in 1361, and appears among the barons in the Scottish parliaments of 1368, 1371, and 1373. His eldest son, Sir David of Hamilton of Cadzow, was the first to assume the surname of Hamilton.
DUKES OF HAMILTON, &c.—The family was only knightly till it was ennobled in its sixth generation, in Sir James of Hamilton of Cadzow, who in 1445 was created Lord Hamilton by a charter which consolidated his whole lands into the lordship of Hamilton, with his manor-place of 'the Orchard,' in the barony of Cadzow, as his chief messuage. In 1460 he founded a college in the university of Glasgow—ti the first college in Scotland founded by a layman. He also founded and endowed the collegiate church of Hamilton. Allied both by marriage and by descent to the Douglasses, he followed their banner in the beginning of their great struggle with the crown. But he forsook them at a critical moment in 1454, and his seasonable loyalty was rewarded by large grants of their forfeited lands. At a later period, after the death of his first wife, when he must have been well advanced in years, he received in marriage the Princess Mary, the eldest daughter of King James II., formerly the wife of Thomas Boyd, the attainted Earl of Arran. His only son by her, James, second Lord Hamilton, was in 1503 made Earl of Arran, and had a grant of that island, the dowry of his mother on her first marriage. After playing an important part in public affairs during the minority of King James V., he died in 1529, being succeeded by the eldest son of his third wife (a niece of Cardinal Beaton), James, second Earl of Arran. The death of King James V. in 1542 left only an infant a few days old between him and the throne. He was at once chosen regent of the kingdom and tutor to the young queen, and declared to be 'second person in the realm.' He held his high offices till 1554, when he resigned them in favour of the queen-mother, Mary of Guise. He received in 1548, from King Henry II. of France, a grant of the duchy of Chatelherault. His eldest son, the Earl of Arran, was proposed at one time as the husband of Queen Mary of Scotland, and at another time as the husband of Queen Elizabeth of England. He was afflicted with madness in 1562, and never recovered his reason, although he lived till 1609. His father, the first Duke of Chatelherault, dying in 1575, the second son, Lord John Hamilton, commendator of Arbroath, became virtual head of the house, and as such was in 1599 created Marquis of Hamilton. He died in 1604, being succeeded by his son James, the second marquis, who in 1619 was created Earl of Cambridge in England, and died in 1625. His eldest son, James, the third marquis, led an army of 6000 men to the support of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1631–32, and later acted a conspicuous part in the great contest between King Charles I. and the Scottish Covenanters. That king in 1643 created him Duke of Hamilton, with remainder to the heirs-female of his body, in the event of the death of himself and his brother without male issue. In 1648 he led a Scottish army into England for the king's relief, but was encountered and defeated by Cromwell at Preston, in Lancashire, and, ultimately forced to surrender to the parliamentary forces, was beheaded at Westminster in March 1649. He was succeeded by his brother William who in 1639 had been created Earl of Lanark, and died in 1651 of the wounds which he had received at the battle of Worcester. The duchy of Hamilton now devolved on the eldest daughter of the first duke, Lady Anne, whose husband, Lord William Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, was in 1660 created Duke of Hamilton for life. He died in 1694, and in 1698 the Duchess Anne, who survived till 1716, resigned her titles in the king's hands in favour of her eldest son, James, Earl of Arran, who was anew created Duke of Hamilton, with the precedence of 1643. In 1711 he was created Duke of Brandon in England, but the House of Lords refused him a seat or vote in parliament, on the ground that the crown was disabled by the Act of Union from granting a peerage of Great Britain to any person who was a peer of Scotland before the Union. The duke was killed in a duel in Hyde Park with Lord Mohun in 1712. His grandson, James, the sixth duke, who married the famous beauty, Elizabeth Gunning, was succeeded in 1758 by his eldest son, James George, an infant of three years old. On the death of the Duke of Douglas in 1761, the male representation of the 'red' or Angus branch of the Douglasses, with the titles of Marquis of Douglas, Earl of Angus, &c., devolved on the Dukes of Hamilton, as descendants of the Duchess Anne's husband, William, Earl of Selkirk, third son of the first Marquis of Douglas. Dying in 1769, in his fifteenth year, James George, seventh Duke of Hamilton, was succeeded by his only brother, Douglas, who in 1782 took his seat in parliament as Duke of Brandon, the House of Lords being satisfied that the Act of Union did not prohibit the crown from making a peer of Scotland a peer of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his uncle, ancestor of the twelfth duke (1845-95). The thirteenth duke, born 1862, is descendant of a third son of the fourth duke.
DUKES OF ABERCORN, &c.—Lord Claud Hamilton, fourth son of the first Duke of Chatelherault, was appointed commendator of the abbey of Paisley in 1553, and created Lord Paisley in 1587. His descendants obtained successively the titles of Lord Abercorn (1603), Earl of Abercorn (1606), Viscount Strabane (1701), Marquis of Abercorn (1790). On the death of the second Duke of Hamilton in 1651, the second Earl of Abercorn claimed the male representation of the House of Hamilton; and in 1861 the second Marquis and tenth Earl of Abercorn (created Duke of Abercorn in 1868) was served heir-male of the first Duke of Chatelherault, in the Sheriff Court of Chancery at Edinburgh, under protest by the Duke of Hamilton, Brandon, and Chatelherault. Dying in 1885, he was succeeded by his son James, the second duke, born in 1838. The Duke of Abercorn is one of three peers who hold peerages in Scotland, in Ireland, and in Great Britain. A cadet of the House of Abercorn, born in 1646, was Count Anthony Hamilton (q.v.).
OTHER PEERAGES.—The third son of Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, was in 1688 created Earl of Selkirk; this title became extinct in 1885 on the death of the sixth earl.—Lord George Hamilton, fifth son of Duchess Anne, was in 1696 created Earl of Orkney. The sixth earl succeeded in 1877.—A fourth son of Duchess Anne was in 1697 created Earl of Ruglen—a title that became extinct in 1810.—The Earls of Haddington are descended from a younger son of the first ascertained ancestor of the Hamiltons, Sir Walter Fitz-Gilbert.—Sir John Hamilton of Biel was created Lord Belhaven and Stenton. The second lord distinguished himself by his wild but eloquent speeches against the Union. On the death of the fifth lord in 1777 the title and estates became separated; the title became dormant in 1868, but was adjudged in 1875 to the ninth lord.—A descendant of the first Lord Paisley became Viscount Boyne in 1717, and his descendant became in 1866 Baron Brancepeth in the peerage of the United Kingdom.—Another branch of the Hamiltons, settling in Ireland, attained to the dignities of Viscount Claneboy (1622) and Earl of Clanbrassil. The titles became extinct in 1799, but the title of Lord Clanbrassil in the peerage of the United Kingdom was created in 1821.
A Brief Account of the Family of Hamilton, written by Dr James Baillie of Carnbroe during the first half of the 17th century, is preserved among the MSS. in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. See Gilbert Burnet's Memoirs of the Lives and Actions of James and William, Dukes of Hamilton and Chatelherault (1677); Anderson's Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton (1825); 'The Manuscripts of the Duke of Hamilton, K.T.' in part vi. of Appendix to the Eleventh Report of the Historical MSS. Commissioners (1887); and the history of the Earls of Haddington by Sir Wm. Fraser (2 vols. 4to, 1889).