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Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong

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George Hamilton
Baronet of Donalong and Nenagh
Tenure 1660–1679
Successor James Hamilton
Born c. 1608
Died 1679
Spouse(s) Mary Butler
Issue
Detail		 James, George, Anthony, Richard, John, Elizabeth, & others
Father James, 1st Earl of Abercorn
Mother Marion Boyd

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

Family tree
George Hamilton with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. He was sometimes confused with his uncle of Greenlaw.[lower-alpha 1]
Claud
1st Ld
Paisley
1546–1621		Margaret
Seton
Template:Died in
James
1st Earl
1575–1618		Marion
Boyd
Template:Died in
Recusant		George
of Greenlaw
& Roscrea
Template:Died in		Mary
Butler
James
2nd Earl
Template:Died in		Claud
2nd Baron
Hamilton
of Strabane
Template:Died in		George
1st Bt.
Donalong
c. 1608 – 1679		Mary
Butler
Template:Died in
James
c. 1630 – 1673
Courtier		George
Template:Died in
Soldier		Anthony
c. 1645 – 1719
Writer		Richard
c. 1649 – 1717
Soldier
James
6th Earl
c. 1661 – 1734
Legend
XXXGeorge
Hamilton		XXXEarls of
Abercorn

Birth and origins[]

George was born about 1608 in Scotland,[1][2] probably in Paisley, Renfrewshire, near Glasgow. He was the fourth son of James Hamilton and his wife, Marion Boyd.[1] His father had been created Earl of Abercorn by James VI and I in 1606.[3] 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.[4]

George was one of nine siblings.[5] See his brothers James and Claude.[lower-alpha 2] George's father was a Protestant, but his mother, Marion Boyd, was a recusant.[6]

Early life[]

Hamilton was about ten in 1618 when his father died.[7] His uncle, Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea, became his guardian and converted him like all his siblings to the Catholic faith.[1][8]

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).[9] His father had predeceased his paternal grandfather, the 1st Lord Paisley, who died three years later in 1621.[10] 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.[11] In 1627 Hamilton succeeded Sir Roger Hope to the command of a company of foot in the Irish Army.[12][lower-alpha 3] In 1632 Hamilton's mother died in Edinburgh and was buried with her husband in Paisley Abbey.[16]

By 1634 Hamilton was commonly called Sir George and was supposed to be a knight and a baronet.[17] The territorial designation and the baronetage (country) of this first baronetcy are unknown.[18] 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.[19][20][21] 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, turned Protestant,[22] and died from losing a leg in a sea-fight[23]
  2. George (died 1676), killed in French service at the Col de Saverne[24]
  3. Anthony (c. 1645 – 1719), fought for the Jacobites and wrote the Mémoires du comte de Grammont[25]
  4. Thomas (died 1687), served in the Royal Navy and died in Boston, Massachusetts[26][27][28]
  5. Richard (died 1717),[29] fought for the Jacobites and was taken prisoner at the Boyne[30]
  6. John (died 1691), officer in the Irish army, died from wounds received at the Battle of Aughrim[31]

—and three daughters:

  1. Elizabeth (1641–1708),[32] a famous beauty, married Philibert de Gramont[33]
  2. Lucia (died 1676), married Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet, of Leamaneh Castle, a Protestant, in 1674[34]
  3. Margaret, married in July 1674 Mathew Forde of Seaforde, County Down, and of Coolgreany, County Wexford[35]

Mistaken identity[]

Hamilton shared his name and surname with his paternal uncle George, his guardian. Their wives also shared their names: both being called Mary Butler.[36] 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.[36] Carte (1736) already confused them.[37][38] Hamilton married in 1635, but earlier dates are reported in error due to the confusion.[19][lower-alpha 4]

Midlife[]

In May 1640, Ormond, Hamilton's brother-in-law, granted him the manor, castle, town, and lands of Nenagh for 31 years.[40] Ormond was appointed lieutenant-general (commander-in-chief) of the Irish army in September.[41]

In 1641 Hamilton accompanied King Charles I on his visit to Scotland.[42] At the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion on 23 October 1641,[43] Hamilton was in England and was 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.[44]

Jean Gordon, widow of his elder brother Claud (died in 1638),[45] lost her home when Phelim O'Neill burned Strabane Castle in December 1641. Hamilton, her brother in law, accommodated her and her children at Nenagh.[46][47]

In February 1642 the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine, which Hamilton operated together with Basil Brooke and Sir William Russell,[11] was attacked by local rebels led by Hugh O'Kennedy and his English miners were killed.[48]

In March 1646 Ormond concluded the 1st Ormond Peace.[49] It was proclaimed on 30 July in Dublin.[50] In Limerick its proclamation was violently prevented by the clerical party in August. Ormond sent Hamilton to Limerick to talk to the Irish about the need for unity.[51]

In May 1646, Hamilton's wife and children left Nenagh and were brought to Dublin for their security. Similar rescues were organised for his mother-in-law, Lady Thurles, and his sisters-in-law, Lady Muskerry and Lady Loughmoe.[52] In June at Benburb the Confederate Ulster army under Owen Roe O'Neill defeated the Covenanters under Robert Monro.[53] O'Neill then marched south to Kilkenny as directed by Rinuccini, the papal nuncio.[54][55] 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.[56] Ormond abandoned Dublin in July to the parliamentarians and left for England.[57]

Phelim MacTuoll O'Neill stormed Nenagh in 1648,[58] but it was retaken by Inchiquin in the same year by undermining the castle's wall.[59][60] Hamilton seems to have been elsewhere. In August he was with Ormond in France at the queen's court at the Château-Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[61] 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[62] where he landed on 29 September 1648.[63] In January 1649 Ormond appointed Hamilton receiver-general of the revenues for Ireland succeeding to Lord Roscommon.[64] He was also made colonel of a regiment of foot and appointed governor of Nenagh Castle.[65] Near 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 after the Parliamentarians had menaced to breach its walls with artillery.[66][67][68]

Nenagh Castle: a round castellated tower

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[69] where Ormond's wife Elizabeth Preston lived since 1648.[70] Lady Ormond with her children returned to England in August 1652,[71] whereas Lady Hamilton went to Paris where she lived in the convent of the Feuillantines.[72] In 1656 or 1657 Charles II sent him, together with Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, to Madrid on a diplomatic mission.[73]

Restoration, death, and timeline[]

The Restoration in May 1660 brought Charles II on the English throne.[74] Hamilton returned to London with his elder children[75] James and George, who became courtiers at Whitehall.[76]

About 1660 Charles II seems to have created him a baronet for a second time. This baronetcy was styled of Donalong and Nenagh.[20][77][78] It may have been in the baronetage of Ireland,[78][79] Scotland,[20] or Nova Scotia.[80] His grandson James, who should have succeeded as the 2nd baronet, never claimed the title,[81] which might again have been invalid.[82]

Hamilton was joined by his wife and their younger children in 1661. They lived for some time all together in a house near Whitehall.[83] Hamilton's lands in Ulster were restored to him.[84] In 1668 he also received land at Ballymacshanroe, on Great Island, County Cork,[85] which he sold soon afterwards.[86] In 1670 he was granted lands in several counties of Ireland.[86]

Hamilton died in 1679.[81][86] As his eldest son, James, had predeceased him in 1673,[23] Hamilton was succeeded by his grandson James, who would later become the 6th earl of Abercorn.[81]

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages. Italics for historical background.
Age Date Event
0 About 1608 Born in Scotland as the 4th son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn[1]
10 23 Mar 1618 Father died at Monkton, Ayrshire, Scotland.[7]
13 1621 Grandfather died.[10]
17 27 Mar 1625 Accession of Charles I, succeeding James I[87]
19 16 Oct 1627 Made commander of a company of the Irish Army[12]
24 26 Aug 1632 Mother died in Edinburgh.[16]
27 1635 Married Mary Butler[19]
32 1 May 1640 Ormond grants him Nenagh for 31 years.[40]
33 23 Oct 1641 Outbreak of the Rebellion[43]
33 1641 Arrested as a papist while in England[44]
34 2 Feb 1642 Lost the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine raided by the insurgents[48]
34 30 Aug 1642 Ormond created marquess[88]
35 15 Sep 1643 Cessation (truce) between the Confederates and the government[89]
35 13 Nov 1643 Ormond appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland[90]
38 5 Jun 1646 Battle of Benburb[91]
38 17 Sep 1646 Ulster Army captured Roscrea[38]
39 28 Jul 1647 Ormond abandoned Dublin to the Parliamentarians.[57]
40 29 Sep 1648 Ormond returned to Ireland landing at Cork.[63]
41 Jan 1649 Appointed receiver-general of revenues in Ireland.[64]
41 30 Jan 1649 Charles I beheaded.[92]
42 Oct 1650 Surrendered Nenagh Castle to the Parliamentarians under Ireton[66]
43 Early in 1651 Followed Ormond into French exile[69]
52 29 May 1660 Restoration of Charles II[74]
52 About 1660 Created Baronet of Donalong and Nenagh[79]
65 6 Jun 1673 Son James died from wounds received in a sea-fight against the Dutch.[23][93]
68 Jun 1676 Son George killed at the Col de Saverne in French service[24]
71 1679 Died, succeeded by his grandson James, the future 6th Earl of Abercorn[81]

Notes and references[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ This family tree is based on a drawn pedigree[94] and written genealogies of the Abercorns.[95][96] Also see the list of children in the text.
  2. ↑ George's father's article gives a list of all the nine siblings
  3. ↑ This was likely the Roger Hope of Hopestown in Westmeath, who sat for Carlingford in the Parliament 1613–1615[13][14] and was knighted by Lord Deputy Oliver St John, 1st Viscount Grandison in 1622 on his last day in office.[15]
  4. ↑ Burke's Peerage (1915) cites a marriage contract dated the 2 June 1629,[20] but Manning cites one dated 14 February 1630.[39]. His granduncle's marriage seems therefore to have been in 1630 rather than in 1629.

Citations[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wasser 2004, p. 838, left column, line 35
  2. ↑ G. E. C. 1903, p. 305, line 4
  3. ↑ G. E. C. 1910, p. 2, line 8
  4. ↑ Paul 1908, pp. 163–164
  5. ↑ Millar 1890, p. 177, left column, line 22
  6. ↑ Paul 1908, pp. 167
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 G. E. C. 1910, p. 3, line 1
  8. ↑ Manning 2001, p. 149, bottom
  9. ↑ Lodge 1789b, p. 110
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Holmes 2004, p. 778, right column
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Gleeson 1937, p. 106
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lodge 1789b, p. 117
  13. ↑ Stubbs 1919, p. 311
  14. ↑ House of Commons 1878, p. 626
  15. ↑ Shaw 1906, p. 179
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 G. E. C. 1910, p. 3, line 3
  17. ↑ Mahaffy 1900, p. 53
  18. ↑ Wasser 2004, p. 838, left column, line 41
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Manning 2001, p. 150, line 42
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Burke & Burke 1915, p. 54, right column, line 33
  21. ↑ Lodge 1789a, p. 40, line 14
  22. ↑ Clark 1921, p. 16
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Burke & Burke 1915, p. 54, right column, line 38
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Sergeant 1913, p. 217
  25. ↑ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 54, right column, line 59
  26. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 25
  27. ↑ Clark 1921, p. 74
  28. ↑ Sewall 1878, p. 176
  29. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 26
  30. ↑ Boulger 1911, p. 155
  31. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 27
  32. ↑ Rigg 1890, p. 146, left column
  33. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 29
  34. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 31
  35. ↑ Burke 1869, p. 3, left column, line 33
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Manning 2001, p. 149, line 6
  37. ↑ Manning 2001, p. 151, line 36
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Carte 1851, p. 265
  39. ↑ Manning 2001, p. 150, line 20
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Manning 2001, p. 150, last line
  41. ↑ Perceval-Maxwell 2009, Paragraph 8
  42. ↑ Wasser 2004, p. 838, left column, line 43
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Warner 1768a, p. 6
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Sergeant 1913, p. 145, line 16
  45. ↑ Paul 1904, p. 50, line 7
  46. ↑ Graham 1841, p. 277
  47. ↑ Manning 2001, p. 154, note 40
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Gleeson 1937, p. 109
  49. ↑ Gardiner 1893, p. 55
  50. ↑ Gardiner 1893, p. 156
  51. ↑ Ferrar 1787, p. 40
  52. ↑ Manning 2001, p. 151, line 29
  53. ↑ Cusack 1871, p. 317
  54. ↑ Hayes-McCoy 1990, p. 197
  55. ↑ Coffey 1914, p. 178
  56. ↑ Carte 1851, pp. 299–300
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 Airy 1886, p. 56, left column, line 29
  58. ↑ Coffey 1914, p. 207
  59. ↑ Bellings 1891, p. 105
  60. ↑ Gleeson 1936, p. 257, line 3
  61. ↑ Carte 1851, p. 384, line 9
  62. ↑ Carte 1851, pp. 386–387
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Airy 1886, p. 56, left column, line 50
  64. ↑ 64.0 64.1 Clark 1921, p. 5, line 2
  65. ↑ Wasser 2004, p. 838, left column, line 48
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 Warner 1768b, p. 228
  67. ↑ R. Y. 1833, p. 298, line 10
  68. ↑ Gleeson 1936, p. 257, line 6
  69. ↑ 69.0 69.1 Millar 1890, p. 177, left column, line 46
  70. ↑ Carte 1851, p. 384, line 31
  71. ↑ Perceval-Maxwell 2004, pp. 130–131
  72. ↑ Clark 1921, p. 8, line 27
  73. ↑ Clark 1921, p. 9
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 39
  75. ↑ Wauchope 2004b, p. 888, right column, line 11
  76. ↑ Rigg 1890, p. 135, right column, line 17
  77. ↑ G. E. C. 1903, p. 305, line 7
  78. ↑ 78.0 78.1 Burke 1869, p. 2, right column, bottom
  79. ↑ 79.0 79.1 Millar 1890, p. 177, left column, line 48
  80. ↑ Lodge 1789b, p. 111
  81. ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 81.3 Burke & Burke 1915, p. 55, left column, bottom
  82. ↑ G. E. C. 1903, p. 305, note c
  83. ↑ Clark 1921, p. 12, line 22
  84. ↑ Elliott 2000, p. 114
  85. ↑ Lodge 1789b, p. 118, line 35
  86. ↑ 86.0 86.1 86.2 Paul 1904, p. 53, line 14
  87. ↑ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 16
  88. ↑ G. E. C. 1895, p. 149, line 27
  89. ↑ Airy 1886, p. 54, right column
  90. ↑ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 169, line 4
  91. ↑ (Duffy 2002, p. 114)
  92. ↑ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 17
  93. ↑ Paul 1904, p. 57, line 3
  94. ↑ G. E. C. 1910, p. 4
  95. ↑ G. E. C. 1910, pp. 2–11
  96. ↑ Paul 1904, pp. 37–74

Sources[]

Subject matter monographs:

  • Wasser 2004 as co-subject in "James Hamilton, first earl of Abercorn", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography


Further reading[]

Baronetage of Ireland
New creation Baronet
(of Donalong, Tyrone)
1660–1679 		Succeeded by
James Hamilton
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