James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn PC (12 August 1575 – 23 March 1618).

Biography

He was the eldest son of Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley (4th son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran), and of Margaret, daughter of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton.

Hamilton was made Sheriff of Linlithgow in 1600, received large grants of lands in Scotland and Ireland, was created in 1603 Baron Abercorn, and on 10 July 1606 was rewarded for his services in the matter of the union by being made Earl of Abercorn and Lord Paisley, Hamilton, Mountcastell and Kilpatrick. He married Marion, daughter of Thomas Boyd, 6th Lord Boyd, and left nine children:

• Lady Anne Hamilton (1592–1620), married Hugh Sempill, 5th Lord Sempill and had issue
• James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Abercorn (c. 1604 – c. 1670), created Lord Hamilton, Baron of Strabane in the Peerage of Ireland in his father's lifetime.
• Sir William Hamilton, 1st Baronet (c. 1605–1680)
• Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane (c. 1606–1638)
• Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet (c. 1607–1679)
• Lady Lucy Hamilton (b. bef. 1618)
• Sir Alexander Hamilton (d. bef. 4 May 1669), married and had issue:
  • Alexander Hamilton, Count of Neuburg, the Holy Roman Empire's Envoy Extraordinary to the court of James VII and II, had issue:
    • Julius Hamilton, Count of Neuburg. Chamberlain to Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
• Lady Margaret Hamilton (d. c. 4 May 1642), married Sir William Cuninghame of Caprington
• Lady Isobel Hamilton

He died on 23 March 1618. His heirs, Earls of Abercorn, heirs male of the Hamilton family from 1651, became Marquesses of Abercorn in 1790, and Dukes of Abercorn in 1868; the 2nd Duke of Abercorn (b. 1838) being a prominent Unionist politician and chairman of the British South Africa Company. The present Dukes are descended from his fourth son, Sir George, the issue of the three elder being extinct.

References

Sources

• Balfour Paul, Sir James -Scots Peerage IX vols. Edinburgh 1906. [1]
• Dictionary of National Biography
• thePeerage.com
• genealogy.euweb.cz
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Peerage of Scotland
New creation	Baron Abercorn 1603–1618	Succeeded by James Hamilton
	Earl of Abercorn 1606–1618