James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn.
James Hamilton, 1st (b.1811 d.1885) Duke of Abercorn, KG, KP, PC, styled Viscount Hamilton from 1814 to 1818 and The Marquess of Abercorn from 1818 to 1868, was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922.
Born into an Ulster-Scots aristocratic family at Seymour Place, Mayfair, on 21 Jan 1811, Abercorn was the son of James Hamilton (b.1786 d.1814), Viscount Hamilton, himself the eldest son of John Hamilton, (b.1756 d.1818), 1st Marquess of Abercorn. His mother was Harriet, Douglas the second daughter of The Honourable John Douglas (b.1756 d.1818), himself the youngest son of James Douglas (b.1702 d.1768), The 14th Earl of Morton.
His father died when Abercorn was only three. In 1818, aged seven, he succeeded his grandfather in his titles and estates. He was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 2 July 1829.
On 25 October 1832 at Gordon Castle, in Morayshire, Abercorn married Lady Louisa Jane Russell (b.1812 d.1905), second daughter of John Russell (b.1766 d.1839), 6th Duke of Bedford and Lady Georgiana Gordon (b.1781 d.1853).
They had fourteen children, thirteen of whom survived infancy, among them seven daughters, all of whom were ordered to marry into the peerage and no one beneath the rank of an earl:
1. Lady Harriet Georgiana Louisa Hamilton (b.1834 d.1913), married in 1855 to Thomas George Anson, 2nd Earl of Lichfield. They had eight sons and five daughters.
2. Lady Beatrix Frances Hamilton (b.1835 d.1871), married in 1854 to George Frederick D'Arcy Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham.They had at least nine sons and four daughters.
3. Lady Louisa Jane Hamilton (b.1836 d.1912), married in 1859 to William Montagu Douglas Scott, 6th Duke of Buccleuch. They had six sons and two daughters:
4. James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn (b.1838 d.1913) married in 1869 to Lady Mary Anna Curzon-Howe (b.1848 d.1929). They had two daughters and seven sons.
5. Lady Katherine Elizabeth Hamilton (b.1840 d.1874), married in 1858 to William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. They had at least one son and three daughters.
6. Lady Georgiana Susan Hamilton (b.1841 d.1913), married in 1882 to Edward Turnour, 5th Earl Winterton. They had one son.
7. Lord Claud Hamilton (b.1843 d.1925) married on 20 July 1878 to Carolina Chandos-Pole (b.1857 d.1911) a granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Harrington. They had two children.
8. Lord George Hamilton (b.1845 d.1927) married in 1871 to Lady Maud Caroline Lascelles (b.1797 d.1857), daughter of Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood. They had at least one son and three daughters.
9. Lady Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton (b.1847d.1932), married in 1869 to George Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough. The marriage was annulled in 1883.
10. Lord Ronald Douglas Hamilton (b.1849 d.1867, aged 18).
11. Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton (b.1850 d.1932), married in 1869 to Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. They had at least two sons and three daughters.
12. Lord Cosmo Hamilton (b.1853 d.1853, on the same day)
13. Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton (b.1856 d.1928). He never married and died without children.
14. Lord Ernest Hamilton (b.1858 d.1939), married in 1891 to Pamela Augusta Ambrose 'Louisa' Campbell (b.1869 d.1931). They had two sons and two daughters.
Lord Abercorn was first appointed a deputy lieutenant of County Tyrone, where he had a family seat at Baronscourt. On 13 Nov 1844, Lord Abercorn was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Donegal. The next month, on 12 Dec 1844, he was made a Knight of the Garter at the relatively young age of 33.
Abercorn was appointed Groom of the Stole (responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene) to Prince Albert (b.1819 d.1861) of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 8 Feb 1846, and shortly thereafter, on 25 Feb 1846, was made a Privy Counsellor (a formal body of advisers to the sovereign). He served as Groom of the Stole until June 1859, and remained a prominent figure in the royal court for the next two decades. He received two honorary degrees during this period, becoming an LL.D, (Doctor of Laws) of Cambridge on 5 July 1847, a DCL (Doctor of Civil Law) of Oxford on 4 June 1856. From 11 April 1855 to 22 Sept 1860, he was honorary colonel of the Donegal Militia, and on 18 Feb 1860, was commissioned a captain in the newly raised London Scottish Rifle Volunteers.
On 6 July 1866, he was appointed Viceroy of Ireland, under the third ministry of Edward Smith-Stanley (b.1799 d.1869), 14th Earl of Derby. He retained the post after Derby resigned in Feb 1868 and Benjamin Disraeli (b.1804 d.1881), 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, took the reins of the ministry. On 10 Aug 1868, he was created Marquess of Hamilton and Duke of Abercorn in the Peerage of Ireland. Around this time, he received his third honorary degree, an LL.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. After William Ewart Gladstone (b.1809 d.1898) and the Liberals won the 1868 general election, Abercorn resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy on 14 Dec.
After the formation of the second Disraeli ministry of 1874, Abercorn was again appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 2 March 1874, and was also chosen Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland (Freemasons), a post he held until his death. He resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy again on 6 Dec 1876, partly on account of his wife, Lady Louisa’s ill health.
Abercorn was Envoy-Extraordinary for the investiture of King Umberto I of Italy (b.1844 d.1900) with the Order of the Garter on 2 March 1878.
He was elected Chancellor of the University of Ireland in 1881, and died four years later at his home of Baronscourt, County Tyrone on 31 Oct 1885, aged 74, and was succeeded by his eldest son, James. He is buried in the cemetery at Baronscourt Parish Church, the traditional burial place of the Dukes of Abercorn and their families.