Family and Education

b. bef. 1690, 2nd s. of Henry Hamilton (d.1690) of Bailieborough, co. Cavan, by Rebecca Blackwell, and yr. bro. of James Hamilton of Carlow, M.P. [I], ancestor of the Lords Holmpatrick. m. — Ligoe, 1s.

Offices Held

M.P. [I] 1725-7.

Biography

John Hamilton was 3rd cousin to James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Limerick [I], both being descended from the Rev. Hans Hamilton (d.1608), a legitimized son of Alexander Hamilton of Raploch, co. Stirling.1 When Richard Hampden chose to sit for the county in 1728, Hamilton was returned by a considerable majority for Wendover at the ensuing election, doubtless through Lord Limerick, the other sitting Member. He is the ‘Mr. Hambleton, of our House’, who was consulted by the 1st Lord Egmont on Irish matters in 1731, when he drafted a petition and bill for allowing unenumerated commodities to go direct to Ireland from the colonies, instead of through Great Britain.2 Unlike his kinsman, Lord Limerick, he supported the Government, voting for them on the army in 1732 and the excise bill in 1733. Though put down as a government candidate for Wendover late in 1733,3 he did not stand at the general election of 1734, after which nothing is known of him.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. G. Hamilton, Hist. House of Hamilton, 970, 1021.
• 2. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 169, 170, 354.
• 3. Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss 68.