Page:A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire (IA genealogicalhera00inburk).pdf/51



(Sir James Hamilton, K.G., P.C., LL.D.), Marquess of Hamilton of Strabane, co. Tyrone, Viscount Strabane, Lord Hamilton Baron of Strabane and Baron of Mountcastle, in the peerage of Ireland; Marquess of Abercorn and Viscount Hamilton, in the peerage of Great Britain; Earl of Abercorn, Baron of Paisley, Aberbrothick, Abercorn, Hamilton, Mountcastle, and Kilpatrick, in the peerage of Scotland; a Baronet of Ireland; Duke of Chatelherault, in France; ; lord-lieutenant and custos rotnlorum of the co. of Donegal, colonel of the Donegal militia, and major-general of the Royal Archers (the Queen's body guard of Scotland); late Groom of the Stole to H.R.H. the Prince Consort; b. 21 Jan. 1811; s. his grandfather, as 2nd marquess, 27 Jan. 1818, and was created Duke of Abercorn and Marquess of Hamilton 10 Aug. 1868; m. 25 Oct. 1832, Lady Louisa-Jane Russell, 2nd dau. of John, 6th Duke of Bedford, K.G., and has had issue,

His grace was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1866, and was raised to the Marquessate of Hamilton and, 10 Aug. 1868, in recognition of his very able administration of the Government of Ireland during a critical and difficult period. He resigned the lord-lieutenancy in 1868. He was served of the body of the 1st Duke of Chatelherault, by the sheriff of Chancery in Scotland, 13 Jan. 1862, and, as such heir male of the 1st duke, asserts his hereditary right to the original title of Duke of Chatelherault of 1549.

This family is said to be descended from Sir William de Hameldon, oneo f hte younger sons of Robert de Bellomont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, which Sir William de Hameldon's son,, having expressed him self at the court of. in admiration of King, received a blow from John de Spencer, which led the following day to a rencounter, wherein Spencer fell; and Hamilton sought security in Scotland, about the year 1323. Being closely pursued, however, in his flight, he and his servant changed clothes with two woodcutters, and taking their saws, were in the act of cutting through an oak tree when his pursuers passed by. Perceiving his servant notice them, Sir Gilbert hastily cried out to him, "Through!" which word, with the oak, and saw through it, he took for his crest, in commemoration of his deliverance. This is the account which has been transmitted through tradition. But it is difficult to reconcile with chronological dates the descent of Sir Gilbert de Hamilton from the 3rd Earl of Leicester, through his younger son, William. Moreover, on the death of the 4th earl, the great posessions of the House of Bellomont devolved on his sisters; and Simon de Montfort, the husband of the eldest, had in her right the title of Earl of Leicester. This could hardly have occurred, if these ladies had had a brother who left male issue to inherit his rights. It is more probable that the ancestor of the family of Hamilton was one of the younger sons of Robert, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who was the son of Robert de Bellomont, 1st Earl of Leicester in England, and Count of Mellent in Normandy, by the dau. of Hugh, Count of Vermandois, son of ., King of France.

Without attempting to trace the exact line of descent of the illustrious Scottish house of Hamilton from the great and powerful stock of the ancient De Bellomonts, Earls of Leicester, there seems to be no doubt that they derived their origin from that magnificent Norman race, through the lords of the manor of Hamilton, in the co. of Leicester, who flourished there previous to the extinction of the De Bellomonts, and who are considered to have been a branch of their family. They carried the same arms with those of the Earls of Leicester, with the difference of cinquefoils instead of one, as a mark of cadency. The ancient lords of the manor of Hamilton and the Hamiltons of Scotland bearing for their arms cinquefoils, ermine, on a field, gules; whereas the De Bellomonts, Earls of Leicester, and their ancestors, the Counts of Melleut, bore  cinquefoil, ermine, on a field, gules.

was the immediate ancestor of this great family. He lived in the reign of ., King of Scotland, and he is said to have m. Isabella