A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hamilton, William Alexander Baillie
HAMILTON. (Captain, 1828. f-p., 13; h-p., 18.)
William Alexander Baillie Hamilton, born 6 June, 1803, at Normanby, co. York, is third son of the late Ven. Chas. Baillie Hamilton, Archdeacon of Cleveland, by Lady Charlotte Home, youngest daughter of the ninth, and aunt of the present, Earl of Home; brother of Sir Geo. Baillie Hamilton, K.C.H., H.M. Minister at the Court of Tuscany, and of Commander Cospatrick Baillie Hamilton, R.N.; first-cousin of Capt. Thos. Baillie, R.N. (to whose family connections refer); and second-cousin of the present Earl of Haddington, late Lord Privy Seal.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 Aug. 1816, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Rochfort 80, commanded at Portsmouth by Capt. Sir Arch. Collingwood Dickson, with whom he served until his removal, in April, 1817, to the Royal Naval College. In Oct. 1819 he again embarked on board the Vigo 74, Capt. Thos. Brown, fitting for the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Lambert, but was soon afterwards transferred to the Active 46, Capt. Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon, in which we find him visiting the Mediterranean, and, in Aug. 1821, attending George IV. to Ireland. After a further attachment of nearly two years to the Euryalus 42, Capt. Aug. Wm. Jas. Clifford, and Revenue 78, flag-ship of Sir Harry Burrard Neale, both on the Mediterranean station, Mr. Hamilton was promoted, 1 Dec. 1823, to a Lieutenancy in his old frigate, the Active, Capt. Andrew King, then off Lisbon. He was subsequently appointed – 26 Jan. 1824, to the Blanche 46, Capt. Wm. Bowen Mends, in which ship he conveyed Vice- Admiral Lord Amelius Beauclerk to the Tagus, and next proceeded to South America – 2 Dec. 1824, to the Windsor Castle 74, Capt. Hugh Downman, lying at Plymouth – 26 July, 1825, to the Druid 46, Capt. Sam. Chambers, forming part of an experimental squadron – 1 March, 1826, to the Ganges 84, fitting for the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Waller Otway – and, lastly, to the Blonde 46. In that frigate he immediately proceeded to Bermuda with despatches for the Commander-in-Chief, Rear-Admiral Willoughby Thos. Lake, by whom, on his arrival, he was placed in command of the Doterel sloop. His promotion meeting with official sanction, 17 Nov. 1826, Capt. Hamilton was next, 2 July, 1827, appointed to the Pelican 18, in the Mediterranean; previously, however, to joining which vessel he appears to have elicited the approbation of Sir Edw. Codrington, while employed by that Admiral in communicating with the officer in command of the Turkish forces in the Morea. He afterwards watched the harbour of Navarin, until at length enabled to report to the Commander-in-Chief at Malta the intelligence of its evacuation by the remains of the enemy’s fleet; and, in Oct. 1828, he witnessed the final departure of Ibrahim Pacha’s army from the Morea. Capt. Hamilton, who, during his cruize off that peninsula, as well as with Sir Thos. Staines at Grabusa, had been very efficaciously employed in the suppression of piracy, and had been advanced to Post-rank by commission dated 9 Aug. 1828, resigned the command of the Pelican on 1 Dec. in the same year. He has not since been afloat.
Capt. Hamilton was appointed, in 1841, Private Secretary to his relative. Lord Haddington, then First Lord of the Admiralty, and after acquiring, in the discharge of the duties of that delicate and important post, the affection and esteem of the Service to an extent, we believe, unparalleled, was selected, in Jan. 1845, to succeed Sir John Barrow, Bart., in the Second-Secretaryship of the Admiralty.[1] He married, 15 Aug. 1836, Lady Harriet Hamilton, sister of the Marquess of Abercorn, and daughter of the late Viscount Hamilton, by Harriet, grand-daughter of the 15th Earl of Moreton, who, on the Viscount’s death, married, secondly, the present Earl of Aberdeen, late H.M. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Capt. Hamilton has issue a son and two daughters. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
- ↑ In 1835, when Lord Haddington filled the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Captain Hamilton had also acted as his Lordship’s private secretary.