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on 23 Mar. 1735/6, as BARON MOUNTCASTLE (I.) to the Irish House of Lords, and took his seat the same day.[1] In 1761, 1768, 1774, 1780, and 1784 he was chosen a Rep. Peer (Tory) [S.]. On 11 Mar. 1766 he voted against the Repeal of the American Stamp Act, and on 17 Dec. 1783 against Fox's India Bill. On 24 Aug. 1786, he was cr. a Peer of Great Britain[2] as VISCOUNT HAMILTON[3], with a spec, rem., failing his issue male, to his nephew, John James Hamilton. In 1745 he purchased the Barony of Duddingston, co. Edinburgh (where he built a mansion), and in 1764 the Lordship of Paisley, co. Renfrew (being the inheritance, anciently, of his paternal ancestors), where, in 1779, he laid out a new town. He also built a magnificent house at Baronscourt, near Londonderry. He d. unm. at Boroughbridge (on a journey), 9 Oct. 1789, in his 77th year, and was bur. in the Abbey of Paisley.[4] Will dat. 24 May 1785, pr. 14 Oct. 1789. | |
| IX. 1789. MARQUESSATE I. 1790 |
9 and 1. John James (Hamilton), Earl of Abercorn, &c. [S.], also Viscount Strabane, &c. [I.], also Viscount Hamilton, (under the spec. rem. abovementioned), nephew and h., being posthumous s. and h. of John H., Capt. R.N. (by Harriet, widow of Richard Eliot of Port Eliot, Cornwall, and illegit. da. of the Rt. Hon. James Craggs), which John H. was next br. to the 8th Earl, but. d. Dec. 1755, v.f., aged 41. He was b. July 1756, and bap. at St. Geo., Han. Sq. M.P. (Tory) for East Looe 1783–4, and for St. Germans 1784–9. On 15 Oct. 1790, he was cr. MARQUESS OF ABERCORN. P.C.[I.] 1 Feb. 1794, K.G. 17 Jan. 1805. He m., 1stly, 20 June 1779, at St. Marylebone, Midx., Catharine, 1st da. of Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Bart., by Mary, da. of John Buller, of Morval, Cornwall. She d. at Bentley Priory, Midx., 13, and was bur. 19 Sep. 1791, at Stanmore. He m., 2ndly, 4 Mar. 1792, in Grosvenor Sq., Midx., his 1st cousin, Lady Cecil Hamilton (raised to the precedency of an Earl's da. by Royal Warrant, 27 Oct. 1789)[5] 5th and yst. da. and coh. of his |
- ↑ See p. 2 note "c," where all such summons, v.p., of eldest sons of Irish peers are enumerated.
- ↑ In consequence of this creation, by a resolution of the Committee for Privileges on 13 Feb. 1787 (52 to 38 votes), duly confirmed by the House of Lords, he ceased to be a Rep. Peer [S.]. This resolution was the first on this subject, and was somewhat militated against by the fact of the Duke of Atholl [S.] having sat in the House from 14 Mar. 1737 till the gen. election in 1741 as a Peer of Great Britain (Lord Strange), as well as a Rep. Peer [S.]. See Robertson, pp. 181 and 430. See also note sub William, Duke of Queensberry [1778.]
- ↑ Described in the signet office docquet as Vt. Hamilton of Hamilton, co. Leicester, but on the patent roll referred to as (merely) "Viscount Hamilton."
- ↑ For illustrations of his stiff manners, "Castilian pomp," pride, eccentricity, and unpopularity, see several rather amusing stories in Gent. Mag. for Oct. 1789. V.G.
- ↑ This was certainly a most unusual proceeding, as neither her father (who d. s.p.m. 26 Nov. 1787) nor any of his issue ever could have suc. to the title, he having been a yr. br. of Capt. John H., ancestor of the then Peer. This favour was not extended to any of her four elder sisters; indeed the precedency was only that of the
