John Hamilton

John Hamilton (1651 or 1552 – 1691), was an Irish army officer of Scottish and Irish origin, who fought in the Williamite war in Ireland on the side of the deposed James II. He died from wounds received at the Battle of Aughrim.

Birth and origins

John Hamilton was probably born in 1651 or 1552 in Caen, France, the sixth and youngest son of George Hamilton and his wife, Mary Butler. His family had fled Ireland early in 1651 during the Cromwellian conquest.

His father was Scottish, the fourth son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, a faithful supporter of James Butler, Marquess of Ormond and lord lieutenant of Ireland, during the Irish Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and a would-be baronet.

John's mother was half Irish and half English, the third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles and his English Catholic wife Elizabeth Poyntz. Viscount Thurles (courtesy title) predeceased his father, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and therefore never succeeded to the earldom. The Butlers were Old English. John's mother also was a sister of James Butler, making her husband a brother-in-law of the lord lieutenant.

Hamilton's parents had married in 1635, despite earlier dates reported in error due to his father being often mistaken for his homonymous granduncle. John was one of nine siblings. See James, George, Elizabeth, Anthony, and Richard. John's parents were both Catholic, and so was he.

French childhood

His father had been receiver general for James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormond the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Ormond left Ireland for France in December 1650. Hamilton's father wanted to leave together with him but was accused of fraud by the clerical faction. Found innocent, Hamilton's father, accompanied by his family, left Ireland in spring 1651. They went to Caen, Normandy, where they were accommodated for some time by his mother's sister Elizabeth Preston, the Marchioness of Ormond. That is where John was probably born. Lady Ormond with her children left for England in August 1652, whereas John's mother moved to Paris where she lived in the Convent of the Feuillantines [fr].

Restoration

The Restoration in May 1660 brought Charles II on the English throne. Hamilton's father and his elder brothers moved to the court at Whitehall. Charles II restored Donalong, Ulster, to Hamilton's father. About that year Charles allegedly created Hamilton's father baronet of Donalong and Nenagh, but the king if he really went that far, refused to go further because the family was Catholic.

John's elder brothers, James and George, became courtiers at Whitehall. Early in 1661 their father also brought his wife and his younger children to London, where they lived for some time all together in a house near Whitehall.

James II

In February 1685 the Catholic James II acceded to the English throne. Hamilton now in his early thirties, became an officer in James II's Royal Irish Army, as did his older brothers Anthony and Richard. This seems to have been Hamilton's first military employment as he seems to have never joined his brothers at Hamilton's regiment in France. However, Walter Scott believed that he served in France with his brothers.

Having stayed in Ireland he was not affected by the 1688 Glorious Revolution. Early 1689 he was send to France to prepare James's expedition to Ireland. Hamilton arrived on 5 February 1689 in France and departed on the 17th with all the officers and soldiers (including his brother Anthony) from Saint-Germain. He landed with James II at Kinsale on 12 March 1689, having sailed from Brest on the ship-of-the-line Entreprenant.

Marriage and daughter

In 1690, already approaching his forties, Hamilton married Elizabeth Macan (or, likely, McCann) of the family of the ancient Irish Lords of Clanbrassil, different from the viscounts and earls of Clanbrassill, who were Hamiltons from Scotland.

John and Elizabeth had a daughter:

• Margaret, who married a Comte de Marmier in France.

Williamite war, death, and timeline

By June 1690 he was ranked brigadier. In July he as well as his elder brothers Anthony and Richard fought at the Battle of the Boyne. He was listed as one of the "directors" left in Ireland by Tyrconnell when the latter travelled to France following the defeat at the Boyne.

In 1690 Hamilton fought in the successful defence of Limerick. This was the first siege of the town during this war in which William had to concede defeat after a costly failed attack and when winter approached early.

During the campaign of 1691 in Ireland, Hamilton was involved in the Siege of Athlone, where he attempted to retake the city with two infantry brigades but failed.

On 12 July 1691 at the Battle of Aughrim, he commanded the second line of infantry. Seriously wounded, he was taken prisoner late in the day and died in Dublin shortly afterwards. His wife and daughter went to James II's court in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.