James Hamilton, Lord Paisley
James Hamilton, Lord Paisley was the eldest son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Abercorn and Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton. Born a Catholic he became a Presbyterian before 1646. He predeceased his father and is therefore an example of an heir apparent who never succeeded.
Birth and origins
James was born in the early 1630s, probably in Paisley, Scotland, the eldest son of James Hamilton and his wife Katherine Clifton. His father was the 2nd Earl of Abercorn. His mother was Dowager Duchess of Lennox from her previous marriage and Baroness Clifton of Leighton Bromswold, England, in her own right. His parents had married in 1632 or not much before as she on 28 November 1632 obtained permission from the king to keep her precedence as a dowager duchess despite now marrying an earl. He had two brothers, who are listed in his father's article.Both his parents were Catholics and therefore recusants in Scotland. His mother died in Scotland while he was still an infant. As she was a Catholic, the Church of Scotland refused her a burial ceremony. As heir apparent of the Earl of Abercorn, James was styled Lord Paisley, which was at that time the courtesy title for the heir apparent in the family according to the Scottish manner. The rank of this title is a Lord of Parliament and is equivalent to an English or Irish baron. By 1646 Lord Paisley had become a good Presbyterian as is asserted in the proceedings of the General Assembly of the kirk of that year.
Marriage and children
On 28 April 1653, at St Bartholomew-the-Less in London, Lord Paisley married Catherine Lenthall, niece of William Lenthall, speaker of the Long Parliament. His wife was a Protestant, the church where they married was Anglican.James and Catherine had one daughter:
- Catherine Hamilton, who married first William Lenthall of Burford, grandson of the Speaker, and secondly her second cousin Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn.