George Hamilton (MP for Wells)
The Honourable George Hamilton was an Anglo-Irish politician and courtier, the second son of James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn.
Political career
George Hamilton was elected Member of Parliament for St Johnstown in the Irish House of Commons from 1727 to 1761, a single electoral term for a parliament that lasted the entire reign of King George II. This riding was controlled by only thirteen landowning non-Catholic voters, who were non-resident and cast their votes according to the direction of the plantation Corporation of St Johnstown, which was in the control of the Earl of Abercorn, and on the board of which George sat. The Hamiltons of Abercorn had lost control of this corporation by the time of the 1761 election.Concurrently, he was elected as a Whig MP for Wells in the British House of Commons in the 1734 general election, but the electoral result was overturned upon petition by conservative politician George Speke, who was seated in his place on 25 March 1735. He was re-elected for Wells in the general election of 1747, serving until 1754.
On 6 July 1742, George was appointed Deputy-Cofferer in the household of Frederick, Prince of Wales, his sister Jane, Lady Archibald Hamilton, having been the prince’s mistress from 1736 to 1745. His brother Charles Hamilton, famous builder of Painshill Park, was also Clerk of the Household for the prince from 1738 to 1747. He served in this role until the prince’s premature death on 20 March 1751.
Personal life
In his younger years, he served in the cavalry as a cornet. In October 1719, he married Bridget, the daughter of one William Coward who was himself a five-time MP for Wells. Coward was said to be a successful merchant in the Virginia trade from whom George inherited a substantial fortune, and a descendant of Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England.George made his country home in Wells at 11 Chamberlain Street, the manor inherited from his father-in-law, for much of his adult life. He retired nearby to Bath where he was one of the original residents of the Royal Crescent and was celebrated for his love of planting. He and his wife died within four months of each other.
Family
With Bridget, George had eleven legitimate children:- Elizabeth Cameron/de Fay married John Cameron, a nephew of Lord Cameron of Lochiel, who rose to the rank of colonel in the service of the French Royal Army. Following his death, she remarried to a French nobleman, Comte de Fay from Amiens, where they lived until her death some years following the French revolution.
- Captain George Hamilton was a Royal Navy officer who first passed for Lieutenant on 16 July 1741. He served mainly onboard the 90-gun second-rate ship of the line HMS Duke until he was appointed to command the 10-gun sloop of war HMS Mediator upon its purchase by the Royal Navy. The ship was surrendered to the French privateer Naïade on the first day of a mission carrying dispatches during the War of Austrian Succession. Unlike the master of the vessel, Hamilton was spared court martial but was reverted in rank to midshipman. He was re-promoted to Lieutenant a year later on 25 October 1746 and was promoted Commander in command the 16-gun sloop HMS Porcupine on 21 August 1758. Upon arrival in the North America station the following month, he took command of the sixth-rate 20-gun HMS Squirrel, which played a key role at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham a year later. He was made Post-captain and took command of the new fifth-rate 32-gun HMS Richmond a week after the battle on 22 September 1759.
- Bridget Finney, married the Reverend Thomas Finney on 7 Jan 1760 in Tiverton, Devon, England.
- Maria Marsh/Beckford married Francis Marsh on 17 August 1747 in Westminster, with whom she had a daughter Elizabeth. Following Marsh's death, she married the wealthy Jamaican sugar plantation magnate and politician William Beckford on 8 June 1756, who served as Lord Mayor of London and MP for the City of London. They had a son, the romantic novelist and builder William Beckford, who through his two parents was a descendant of every baron signatory to Magna Carta. She is buried at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire.
- The Venerable John Hamilton studied at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1747. He was called to the priesthood and in 1754 was collated as Archdeacon of Raphoe in the Diocese of Raphoe near the Abercorn estates in Ulster.
- Colonel William Hamilton, unmarried.
- James Hamilton.
- Harriet Peter, married the Rev. William Peter.
- Frances Tooker, married William Tooker, of Chilcompton, Somerset.
- Rachel Walter, married the Rev. Neville Walter.
- Charlotte Hamilton, unmarried.