William John Hamilton

William John Hamilton, FRS (5 July 1805 – 27 June 1867) was an English geologist born in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

Early life

He was the son of William Richard Hamilton, FRS (1777–1859) and was educated at Charterhouse School and the University of Göttingen.

Career

He became a fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1831. In 1835 he made a geological tour of the Levant with Hugh Edwin Strickland, continuing on his own through Armenia and across Asia Minor. This journey was described in Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia (1842). Hamilton was the first known person to have successfully climbed Mount Erciyes.

He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newport, Isle of Wight from 1841 to 1847.

Hamilton was president of the Royal Geographical Society for 1848-49 and of the Geological Society between 1854 and 1866. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1855.

He made excursions in France and Belgium and wrote on the rocks and minerals of Tuscany, the agate quarries of Oberstein, and on the geology of the Mayence basin and the Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) district.

Personal life

He married Martin Trotter, daughter of John Trotter, on 26 April 1832, she died in March 1833, they had a son, Robert William Hamilton. He then married Hon. Margaret Frances Florence Dillon, the daughter of Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee, 13th Viscount Dillon and Henrietta Browne, on 26 July 1838. They had six children: Margaret Wilhelmina Hamilton, Florence Selina Hamilton, Victoria Henrietta Hamilton, Alexander Charles Hamilton, Constantine Henry Hamilton and Archibald William Hamilton. Alexander Charles successfully claimed the title of 10th Lord Belhaven and Stenton.

Death

He died in London in 1867, his wife survived him.