James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton


James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton and 2nd Duke of Brandon, was a Scottish peer, the son of the 4th Duke of Hamilton.
Hamilton attended Winchester College from 1716 to 1717. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 2 May 1718 and was created a DCL on 6 June 1719. He succeeded to his father's title of Duke of Hamilton in 1712 following his death in the notorious Hamilton–Mohun duel in Hyde Park. At the foundation of the noted charity, the Foundling Hospital in London, Hamilton was one of the charity's first governors and his name is listed on the organisation's royal charter, granted in October 1739.

Marriages and issue

Hamilton married three times. On 14 February 1723, he married Lady Anne Cochrane, daughter of the 4th Earl of Dundonald and granddaughter of Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore. They had one child:
  • James, later 6th Duke of Hamilton.
Anne died in childbirth. Hamilton married secondly to Elizabeth Strangways, but she died childless on 3 November 1729.
On 21 August 1737, Hamilton married for the third time, and the bride was Anne Spencer. They had three children together:
Hamilton died in 1743, aged 40 at Bath from jaundice and palsy. His widow Anne married Richard Savage Nassau and had three more children.