James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn

James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn (29 February 1904 – 4 June 1979). He was the son of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham. He was variously styled Viscount Strabane (1904–1913), Marquess of Hamilton (1913–1953), and finally inherited his father's peerages on 12 September 1953.

Career

Lord Hamilton (as he then was) attended Eton.

After being commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, he rose to captain.

In 1946, he was elected to the County Council of County Tyrone, served as High Sheriff of Tyrone and then served in the Senate of Northern Ireland, becoming Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone when his father died until his own death.

He was appointed honorary colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (a Territorial Army unit), and died at the age of seventy-five.

Family

In 1928 he married Lady Kathleen Crichton (1905–1990), a daughter of Henry Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872–1914, son of the 4th and father of the 5th Earl of Erne) and Lady Mary Cavendish Grosvenor (1883–1959, daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster).

They have two sons and a daughter:

• Lady Moyra Kathleen Hamilton (b. 1930), who married Cmdr. Peter Colin Drummond Campbell in 1966. They have two sons. Lady Moyra was one of Queen Elizabeth II’s Maids of Honour at the 1953 Coronation. She went on to serve as a Lady in Waiting to Princess Alexandra and later to the Queen.

• Sir James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn (b. 1934)

• Lord Claud Anthony Hamilton (b. 1939), who held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of County Fermanagh in 1978 and in 1991 he was Justice of the Peace. In 1982 he married Catherine Janet Faulkner (niece of Lord Faulkner of Downpatrick). They have a son and a daughter:
  • Anna Kathleen Hamilton (b. 1983)
  • Alexander James Hamilton (b. 1987)

He is related to the late Diana, Princess of Wales through Diana's paternal grand-mother Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer who was the daughter of James, Marquess of Hamilton, later the 3rd Duke of Abercorn.

See also

• List of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Lords

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Abercorn

Honorary titles
Preceded by James Ponsonby Galbraith	Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone 1951–1979	Succeeded by John Hamilton-Stubber
Preceded by John Blakiston-Houston	Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 1963–1967	Battalion disbanded
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by James Hamilton	Duke of Abercorn 1953–1979	Succeeded by James Hamilton