Hamilton

The Hamilton family was considered the most generous of the families of lowland Scotland. For some time, the Hamilton even claimed the Scottish throne. Their current head is the Duke, the Prime Minister of Scotland, the heir to the Douglas House and the hereditary keeper of the Holyrood Palace.

The Hamiltonians apparently originate from English immigrants in Clydeside in southwestern Scotland, as there are several places named Hameltoon, Gumbledone, etc. The first mention of the Hamiltonians dates back to 1296 , when a certain knight Walter Fitzgilbert from Hameldon spoke in support of the English king Edward I , who was trying to seize power in Scotland. Later, however, the Hamilton clan went over to the side of the national king Robert Bruce , for which he was rewarded with Kadow Castle (or Kazou ), which became the family estate of the family. The Hamilton ascension began with the marriage in 1474 of Lord Hamilton to Princess Mary, daughter of the Scottish king James II . Their son in 1503 was elevated to the title of Count Arran and received significant land holdings on the island of the same name, including Brodick Castle . By the mid-1530s, all the descendants of the first kings from the Stuart dynasty on the male side had died, and the counts of Arran became heirs to the Scottish throne. In the XVI century, the Hamilton was repeatedly appointed regents of the country during periods of minority of the monarchs and in fact was the leading aristocratic family of the country. Attempts to seize the throne (especially intensive during the lifetime of James Hamilton, duke de Chatellerault ), however, were unsuccessful. In 1599, the Hamilton received the title of Marquis , and in 1643, James, 3rd Marquis , received the title of Duke of Hamilton . This title passed to his daughter Anna , who married William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk . This happened after the death of her uncle William , 2nd Duke, at the battle of Worcester in 1651 . Earl Selkirk became the third Duke of Hamilton, thus uniting two large families. The 4th Duke was very popular due to stubborn resistance to unification with England in 1707 and was later killed in a duel with Lord Mohun in 1712 . During the Jacobite movement in the late XVII - first half of the XVIII centuries, the Hamilton remained loyal to the kings of Great Britain , which allowed them to maintain their leading position in the state system of the country until the XX century. It was precisely in negotiations with the Duke of Hamilton that Rudolf Hess , the Deputy Fuhrer , flew in 1941 when he landed with a parachute in Scotland.

There are several branches of the Hamilton family: from Abercorn, Dalzell and Innerwick.

Counts of Arran

• James, 1st Earl of Arran (1503-1529), one of the rulers of Scotland during the minority of King James V.
• James, 2nd Earl of Arran and Duke de Chatellerault (1529-1575), son of the 1st Earl of Arran, regent of Scotland in 1543-1554, heir to the Scottish crown and one of the leaders of the Protestant revolution of 1559-1560.
• James, 3rd Earl of Arran (1575–1609), son of the 2nd Earl of Arran, repeated pretender to marriage with Queen Elizabeth I of England and Scottish Queen Mary Stuart . After the death of James, the title of Earl of Arran was inherited by his nephew, Marquis of Hamilton (see below).

Awnings Hamilton

• John, 1st Marquis Hamilton (1599-1604), younger brother of the 3rd Earl of Arran.
• James, 2nd Marquis Hamilton (1604-1625), son of the 1st Marquis.
• James, 3rd Marquis of Hamilton (1625–1649), son of the 2nd Marquis, since 1643 - Duke of Hamilton (see below).

Dukes of Hamilton

• James, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1643–1649), one of the Scottish leaders during the English Revolution and the Covenant movement , a supporter of King Charles I , was executed a month after the king was executed.
• William, 2nd Duke of Hamilton (1649–1651), brother of the 1st Duke, royalist leader of Scotland and leader of the Scottish invasion of England in 1651 .
• Anna, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton (1651–1698), daughter of the 1st Duke.
• James, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1698-1712), son of the 3rd Duchess and William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk, leader of the Scottish nationalists who opposed unification with England, since 1711 - 1st Duke of Brandon. His younger brother George Hamilton was one of the first British field marshals .
• James, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1712-1743), son of the 4th Duke.
• James, 6th Duke of Hamilton (1743-1758), son of the 5th Duke.
• James, 7th Duke of Hamilton (1758-1769), son of the 6th Duke, since 1761 - 1st Marquis of Douglas .
• Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton (1769-1799), son of the 6th Duke, younger brother of the 7th Duke.
• Archibald, 9th Duke of Hamilton (1799-1819), son of the 5th Duke, uncle of the 6th and 7th Dukes.
• Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1819–1852), son of the 9th Duke, British Ambassador to Russia and admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte .
• William, 11th Duke of Hamilton (1852–1863), son of the 10th Duke, was married to the fourth cousin of French Emperor Napoleon III .
• William, 12th Duke of Hamilton (1863–1895), son of the 11th Duke.
• Alfred, 13th Duke of Hamilton (1895-1940), great-great-great-grandson of the 4th Duke, fifth cousin of the 12th Duke.
• Douglas, 14th Duke of Hamilton (1940-1973), son of the 13th Duke; Scotland Air Defense organizer, negotiator with Rudolf Hess .
• Angus, 15th Duke of Hamilton (1973-2010), son of the 14th Duke.
• Alexander, 16th Duke of Hamilton (since June 5, 2010), son of the 15th Duke.

Representatives of a Scottish noble family appeared in Sweden in the 17th century. One of the representatives of the clan was Baron Hugo Johan Hamilton ( 1668 - 1748 ), who was captured in the Battle of Poltava (later Swedish Field Marshal ).

There is a version according to which the first genus of the untitled Khomutov nobles recorded in the VI part of the genealogy of the Tula , Samara and Moscow provinces (in the Russian Empire there were three noble families of the Khomutovs), comes from the Scotsman Thomas Hamilton, who left Russia for Great Britain in 1542 with the infant son Peter, who later was “in the service of Novo-Gorod ”. It is believed that the English "Hamilton" was distorted in Russian and turned into a more understandable "Chomutov". The coat of arms is included in the VII part of the General Armorial of the noble families of the Russian Empire ^[1] .

One of the representatives of the descendants of Thomas, who retained the surname - Evdokia Grigoryevna Hamilton - was the wife of the boyar Artamon Matveev ; the other - Evdokia Petrovna - went into schism; the third - Maria Danilovna Hamilton - was the mistress of Peter I ^[2] , and he was executed ^[3] . Information about the Russian branch from Thomas to Evdokia is known from the family tree written by Evdokia for his son from Artamon Matveyev.

• Forsten G.V. Hamilton, Scottish clan // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Hamilton Clan Society Website
• Hamilton Clan on ElectricScotland.com
• The history and symbols of the Hamilton clan .