Brother's succession
Charles's father died on 14 April 1668 at Kenure House [1] and his elder brother, Claud, succeeded as the 5th Baron of Strabane. [2] Charles became heir presumptive as his brother was unmarried. In about 1680 Claud also succeeded as the 4th Earl of Abercorn after the death of his cousin George in faraway Padua, Italy. [3]
However, in August 1691, when Charles was about 26, Claud was killed in a sea-fight when a Dutch privateer attacked the ship that should have brought him from Limerick to France. [4] His brother had been a Jacobite and had been attainted in Ireland on 11 May 1691. Charles succeeded him immediately as the 5th Earl of Abercorn as the family's Scottish titles were not affected by the attainder but could not become Baron Hamilton of Strabane as that title was forfeit.
Abercorn, as he was now, had supported the Prince of Orange and was a Protestant, [5] perhaps due to his marriage. On 24 May 1692, he obtained a reversal of his brother's attainder and also succeeded as Baron Hamilton of Strabane, becoming the 6th holder of that title. In that capacity he took his seat in the Irish House of Lords on 31 August 1695.
Death, succession, and timeline
Abercorn died childless in Strabane in June 1701. [12] His only child, Elizabeth, had predeceased him in 1699. His widow died on 24 May 1723 in Pall Mall, London, and was buried in the Richmond vault of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. [13]
With his death, the senior line of the Abercorns and the Strabanes failed. With regard to the Abercorns, the succession reverted to the next of the cadet branches descending from the five sons of the 1st Earl of Abercorn as it already had done in about 1650 when George, the 3rd Earl, died unmarried in Padua. As the 1st Earl's third son, William, 1st Baronet of Westport, had no children, the succession passed to the descendants of the fourth son, Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong. Our subject, the 5th Earl, was therefore succeeded as Earl of Abercorn by his second cousin, James Hamilton, the grandson of Sir George. James Hamilton would thus become the 6th Earl of Abercorn.
With regard to the Strabanes, Charles, our subject, was the 6th Baron, and the last heir-male of Claud Hamilton, the 2nd Baron, to whom the title had been regranted after the 2nd Earl had resigned it. The succession, therefore, needed to make use of the special remainder, which also allowed succession through heirs-male from the body of the grantee's father. [14] Therefore, not only the Scottish but also the Irish title devolved to his second cousin, James Hamilton. James, therefore, became 6th Earl of Abercorn and 7th Baron Hamilton of Strabane. From that time on these two titles merged and would always be worn by the same person.
| Timeline |
|---|
| As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages. Italics for historical background. |
| Age | Date | Event |
|---|
| 0 | Estimated 1665 | Born, probably at Kenure House [lower-alpha 2] |
| 2–3 | 14 Apr 1668 | Became heir presumptive after his brother succeeded as 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane [1] |
| 14–15 | About 1680 | Brother Claud succeeded as the 4th Earl of Abercorn. [3] |
| 19–20 | 6 Feb 1685 | Accession of James II, succeeding Charles II [15] |
| 23–24 | 13 Feb 1689 | Accession of William and Mary, succeeding James II [16] |
| 24–25 | About 1690 | Married his 2nd cousin Catherine Lenthall (née Hamilton) and became a Protestant [6] |
| 25–26 | Aug 1691 | Succeeded as 5th Earl of Abercorn as his brother is killed in a sea-fight. [4] |
| 26–27 | 24 May 1692 | Obtained reversal of the attainder and also becomes Baron Hamilton of Strabane |
| 29–30 | 31 Aug 1695 | Took his seat in the Irish House of Lords. |
| 31–32 | 3 Apr 1697 | Accused of murdering John Pryor at Burford |
| 31–32 | 16 Jul 1697 | Tried for John Pryor's murder and acquitted [11] |
| 33–34 | Feb 1699 | Elizabeth, his only child, died. [7] |
| 35–36 | Jun 1701 | Died in Strabane [12] |
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of AbercornPC (S) (1575–1618), was a Scottish diplomat for James VI and an undertaker in the Plantation of Ulster in the north of Ireland.
The title Duke of Abercorn is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1868 and bestowed upon James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. Although the Dukedom is in the Peerage of Ireland, it refers to Abercorn, West Lothian, and the Duke also bears four titles in the Peerage of Scotland and two in the Peerage of Great Britain, and is one of three peers who have titles in those three peerages. The Duke of Abercorn also claims the French title of Duke of Châtellerault, created in 1548.
James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn, styled Viscount Strabane until 1913 and Marquess of Hamilton between 1913 and 1953, was a British peer. He was the son of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham. He inherited his father's peerages on 12 September 1953.
Lord Hamilton, Baron of Strabane, in the County of Tyrone, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland created on 8 May 1617, for James Hamilton, Master of Abercorn, eldest son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, during the life of his father ; the barony had the special remainder to the heir-males of his father. He was about thirteen at the time. Both Abercorn and Paisley were in the peerage of Scotland. He inherited his father's several titles in 1618, his grandfather's title in 1621.
Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley was a Scottish nobleman who fought at the Battle of Langside in 1568 for Mary, Queen of Scots. He is the ancestor of the earls, marquesses and dukes of Abercorn.
James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Abercorn was a Catholic Scottish nobleman. He, his wife, his mother, and most of his family were persecuted by the kirk as recusants. Implementing his father's will, he gave his Irish title of Baron Hamilton of Strabane to his younger brother Claud. His younger brothers inherited his father's Irish lands, while he received the Scottish ones, which he squandered away, being deep in debt in his later days.
George Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Abercorn died unmarried in Padua on a voyage to Rome. He was succeeded by Claud Hamilton, heir of Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, second son of the 1st Earl of Abercorn.
Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane was the founder of the Strabane branch of the Hamiltons. He died relatively young at about 32 and his wife, Jean Gordon, married Sir Phelim O'Neill, one of the leaders of the 1641 rebellion, after his death.
James Hamilton, 3rd Lord Hamilton, Baron of Strabane (1633–1655) fought against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland together with his stepfather Phelim O'Neill. In the Siege of Charlemont of 1650, they defended the fort against Coote, but had eventually to surrender. In 1655 Lord Strabane accidentally drowned in the River Mourne near Strabane, aged about 22 and was succeeded by his brother George.
George Hamilton, 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane was the younger son of Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane. He succeeded to the title in 1655 when his brother drowned while bathing in the River Mourne. After the Restoration, he obtained the return of the family lands around Strabane, which had been confiscated by the Parliamentarians in 1650.
Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn PC (Ire) (1659–1691) was a Scottish and Irish peer who fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War. He went with King James to Derry in 1689 and tried to negotiate the surrender of the town with Adam Murray. He raised a regiment of horse that he led in the defeats of Newtownbutler in 1689 and Aughrim in 1691. He was killed when the ship that should have brought him to France was intercepted by a Dutch privateer.
James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn, PC (Ire), was a Scottish and Irish peer and politician. Appointed a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II after his father's death in battle, he took the Williamite side at the Glorious Revolution and in March 1689 supplied Derry with stores that enabled the town to sustain the Siege of Derry until it was relieved in August. Shortly after inheriting a Scottish and Irish peerage from a second cousin, he was created a viscount in Ireland for his services to the Williamite cause.
James Hamilton, 7th Earl of AbercornPC (Ire) (1686–1744), styled Lord Paisley from 1701 to 1734, was a Scottish and Irish nobleman and peer. An amateur scientist and musician, he published a book on magnetism in 1729 and a treatise on musical harmony in 1730, which was subsequently emended and re-issued by his teacher, Dr. Pepusch.
James Hamilton, Lord Paisley was the eldest son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Abercorn and Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton. Born a Catholic he became a Presbyterian before 1646. He predeceased his father and is therefore an example of an heir apparent who never succeeded.
Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet of Donalong and Nenagh, was born in Scotland, but inherited land in Ireland. Despite being Catholic, he served his Protestant brother-in-law, the 1st Duke of Ormond, lord lieutenant of Ireland, in diplomatic missions during the Confederate Wars and as receiver-general of the royalists. He also defended Nenagh Castle against the Parliamentarians during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Hamilton was father of Anthony, author of the Mémoires du Comte de Grammont, of Richard, Jacobite general, and of Elizabeth, "la belle Hamilton".
Sir Frederick Hamilton was a Scottish soldier who fought for Sweden in the Thirty Years' War in Germany and for the Covenanters in Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. He built Manorhamilton Castle, County Leitrim, Ireland. His son Gustavus became the 1st Viscount Boyne.
Henry Dillon, 8th Viscount Dillon was an Irish soldier and politician. In 1689 he sat in the Patriot Parliament. He fought for the Jacobites during the Wiiliamite War, defending Galway against Ginkel and surrendering it in 1691 after a short siege. He obtained the reversal of his father's attainder in 1696 recovering his father's lands.
Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount BoynePC (Ire) (1642–1723) was an Irish soldier and politician. In his youth, he fought in his cousin Sir George Hamilton's regiment for the French in the Franco-Dutch War. About 1678 he obtained a commission in the Irish Army. James II appointed him to the Irish Privy Council in 1685.
The Right Honourable Frederick Hamilton was an Irish politician who represented County Donegal in three Irish parliaments. He was also heir apparent to his father, Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne. He predeceased him but his son succeeded as the 3rd viscount.
Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea was an undertaker in the Plantation of Ulster. Born and bred in Scotland, by 1611 he had moved to Ireland with his Scottish wife to occupy his plantation grant. In 1630 he married his second wife and moved to Roscrea in southern Ireland, which his father-in-law, the 11th Earl of Ormond, leased to him in lieu of dowry.
