Died January 27, 1818 Role Politician | Name John 1st Nationality Irish | |
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Title 1st Marquess of Abercorn Spouse(s) Catherine CopleyLady Cecil HamiltonLady Anne Jane Gore Children James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton Parents Harriet Eliot, John Hamilton Grandparents James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn Great-grandparents James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn | ||
Other titles 9th Earl of Abercorn | ||
John James Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn KG, PC (Ire) (July 1756 – 27 January 1818) was an Irish peer and politician.
Contents
Background
He was the son of Captain Hon. John Hamilton and grandson of James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn. He was educated at Harrow and Pembroke College, Cambridge. There he became the friend of William Pitt the Younger, a connection that would serve him well in later years.
Career
He was a Tory Member of Parliament for two boroughs in Cornwall from 1783 to 1789, when he succeeded to the Earldom. He was a supporter of his friend Pitt's first ministry, and a friend of William Pitt the Younger. He was created 1st Marquess of Abercorn on 15 October 1790, doubtless due to his political connections.
He was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland on 7 February 1794. Most of the Abercorn lands were in Ireland, and the Marquess made great efforts to build a voting bloc in the Irish Parliament from County Donegal and County Tyrone, although with relatively little success. He was invested as a Knight of the Garter on 17 January 1805.
George W. E. Russell provided the following sketch of his aristocratic character:
This admirable nobleman always went out shooting in his Blue Ribbon, and required his housemaids to wear white kid gloves when they made his bed. Before he married his first cousin, Miss Cecil Hamilton, he induced the Crown to confer on her the titular rank of an Earl's daughter, that he might not marry beneath his position; and, when he discovered that she contemplated eloping, he sent a message begging her to take the family coach, as it ought never to be said that Lady Abercorn left her husband's roof in a hack chaise.
Family
He married, firstly, Catherine Copley, daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet, on 20 June 1779. They had five children:
He married, secondly, his first cousin, Cecil Hamilton, daughter of Reverend The Hon. George Hamilton, on 4 March 1792, but they were divorced in 1799 by an Act of Parliament. They had one child:
He married, thirdly, Lady Anne Jane Gore, daughter of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran, on 3 April 1800.
Lord Abercorn died 27 January 1818, at Bentley Priory, Stanmore and his titles passed to his grandson, James Hamilton.