Monarch Victoria Political party Conservative Spouse Mary Bruce Nationality British Died June 9, 1887 | Preceded by The Earl of Carlisle Role British Politician Prime Minister The Earl of Derby Name Robert Nisbet-Hamilton Party Conservative Party | |
Born 1804 ( 1804 ) Succeeded by Edward Strutt, 1st Baron Belper | ||
Robert Adam Nisbet-Hamilton PC, FRS, JP (1804 – 9 June 1887), known as Robert Dundas until 1835 and as Robert Christopher between 1835 and 1855, was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under the Earl of Derby between March and December 1852.
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Background
Born Robert Dundas, he was the eldest son of Philip Dundas (c.1763–1807, the fourth son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger), and Margaret (daughter of John Wedderburn of Ballendean (1729–1803) and sister of Sir David Wedderburn, 7th Baronet (1775–1858)).
He assumed the surname of Christopher in lieu of his patronymic in 1835 when his wife Lady Mary Bruce (see below) inherited the Christopher estates at Bloxholm and Wellvale in Lincolnshire. In 1855 he assumed the surname of Nisbet-Hamilton in lieu of Christopher after his wife succeeded to the Nisbet-Hamilton estates in Scotland, including Dirleton Castle and Archerfield House.
Political career
Nisbet-Hamilton was returned to Parliament for Ipswich in 1827, a seat he held until 1831 and again briefly in 1835. He also represented Edinburgh between 1831 and 1832 and North Lincolnshire between 1837 and 1857. When the Conservatives came to power under the Earl of Derby in 1852, Nisbet-Hamilton was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and sworn of the Privy Council. He remained as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until the government fell in December 1852.
In 1833 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Family
Nisbet-Hamilton married Lady Mary, daughter of General Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and Mary, daughter and heiress of William Hamilton Nisbet, in 1828. They had one daughter. Lady Mary died in December 1883. Nisbet-Hamilton survived her by four years and died in June 1887.