Military Wiki
The Right Honourable
Lord George Hamilton
GCSI JP
Lord George Hamilton
First Lord of the Admiralty

In office
24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886
Monarch Queen Victoria
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Earl of Northbrook
Succeeded by The Marquess of Ripon

In office
9 August 1886 – 11 August 1892
Monarch Queen Victoria
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Marquess of Ripon
Succeeded by The Earl Spencer
Secretary of State for India

In office
4 July 1895 – 9 October 1903
Monarch Queen Victoria
Edward VII
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Arthur Balfour
Preceded by Henry Fowler
Succeeded by Hon. St John Brodrick
Personal details
Born (1845-12-17)17 December 1845
Died 22 September 1927(1927-09-22) (aged 81)
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Lady Maud Lascelles
(1846–1938)
Children 3
Parents James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn
Lady Louisa Russell
Alma mater Harrow School

Lord George Francis Hamilton GCSI PC JP (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for India.

Background[]

Hamilton was the third son of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and Lady Louisa, daughter of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and was educated at Harrow. He served with the Rifle Brigade and Coldstream Guards, achieving the rank of lieutenant.

Political career[]

Hamilton was Member of Parliament for Middlesex between 1868 and 1885 and for Ealing between 1885 and 1906. He served under Benjamin Disraeli as Under-Secretary of State for India from 1874 to 1878 and as Vice-President of the Committee on Education from 1878 to 1880 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1878.

He entered the cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty under Lord Salisbury in 1885, a post he held until 1886 and again between 1886 and 1892. In 1894 he was elected as Chairman of the London School Board, standing down after one year when the Unionists won the general election and he became Secretary of State for India under Salisbury, which he remained until 1903, the last year under the premiership of Arthur Balfour. In 1903 he was appointed a GCSI. In 1916 he was part of the Mesopotamia Commission of Inquiry.

Other public appointments[]

For a number of years, Hamilton was a member of the board of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) which ran the majority of London's Underground lines. He served as the company's chairman between 1915 and 1919, following the resignation of Sir Edgar Speyer in 1915.[1][2]

Hamilton also held the honorary posts of Captain of Deal Castle (1899–1923) and Major of Deal (1909) and received the degree of honorary LLD from Glasgow University and of honorary DCL from Oxford University. He was also a Justice of Peace for Middlesex and Westminster.

He was also President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1910 to 1912 and from 1915 to 1916.[3]

Family and children[]

Hamilton married Lady Maud Caroline, daughter of Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood, in 1871. They had three sons:

  • Ronald James Hamilton OBE (1872–1958), who fought in the First World War, was wounded and in 1919 invested an OBE. He was awarded with the decoration of the Order of the Crown (Belgium). He served as First Secretary in the Diplomatic Service. In 1915 he married Florence Marguerite (Sarah Brooke) Hanna (d. 1959). They had one daughter:
    • Maud Sarah Hamilton (1917–1995). In 1939 she married Squadron Leader Count Manfred Maria Edmund Ralph Beckett Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, DFC, DSO, MC, RAF (1913–1962). With him she had one son and one daughter.
  • Major Anthony George Hamilton (1874–1936), who fought in the First World War and gained the rank of Major in the service of the East Kent Regiment. He died unmarried and without issue.
  • Vice-Admiral Robert Cecil Hamilton (1882–1947), who fought in the First World War. In 1911 he married Edith Maud Paley (d. 1967), daughter of the barrister Algernon Herbert Paley.

Hamilton died in September 1927, aged 81. His wife survived him by eleven years and died in April 1938.

References[]

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Viscount Enfieldand
Henry Labouchère
Member of Parliament for Middlesex
1868 – 1885
With: Viscount Enfield 1857–1874
Octavius Edward Coope 1874–1885
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Ealing
1885 – 1906
Succeeded by
Sir Herbert Nield
Political offices
Preceded by
M. E. Grant Duff
Under-Secretary of State for India
1874 – 1878
Succeeded by
Hon. Edward Stanhope
Preceded by
Viscount Sandon
Vice-President of the Committee on Education
1878–1880
Succeeded by
A. J. Mundella
Preceded by
The Earl of Northbrook
First Lord of the Admiralty
1885 – 1886
Succeeded by
The Marquess of Ripon
Preceded by
The Marquess of Ripon
First Lord of the Admiralty
1886 – 1892
Succeeded by
The Earl Spencer
Preceded by
Henry Fowler
Secretary of State for India
1895 – 1903
Succeeded by
Hon. St John Brodrick
Government offices
Preceded by
Joseph Diggle
Chairman of the London School Board
1894 – 1895
Succeeded by
The Marquess of Londonderry
Business positions
Preceded by
Sir Edgar Speyer
Chairman,
Underground Electric Railways Company of London

1915–1919
Succeeded by
Sir Albert Stanley
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Lord George Hamilton and the edit history here.