HAMILTON 



3809 



HAMILTON 



Lord Claud Hamilton, 

 British politician 



Russell 



treasury in the Conservative min- 

 istry. From 1869-80 he was M.P. 

 for King's Lynn; from 1880-88 

 for Liverpool, 

 and from 1910- 

 18 for S. Ken- 

 sington. In 

 early life (April, 

 1872) he joined 

 t h e board o f 

 directors of the 

 G.E.R., became 

 deputy chair- 

 man in Jan., 

 1875, and in 

 Sept., 1893, 

 chairman. He was one of the best 

 known figures in the railway world, 

 and a keen defender of the interests 

 of capital. In 1917 he was made a 

 P.C He died Jan. 26, 1925. 



Hamilton, COSMO. British dra- 

 matist and novelist. The second 

 son of Henry Gibbs and brother of 

 Sir Philip Gibbs (q.v.) t he assumed 

 his mother's name in 1898. He 

 edited The World, 1905-6, and 

 wrote a number of capital novels 

 and plays. When the Great War 

 broke out he joined the Royal 

 Naval Air Service, being gazetted 

 a lieu t. in Nov., 

 1914. His many 

 novels and 

 short stories in- 

 cluded Adam's 

 Clay, 1907; 

 Keepers of the 

 House, 1908 ; 

 The Blindness 

 of Virtue, 1908; 

 The Princess of 

 New York, 

 1911; The Out- 

 post of Eternity, 1912; The 

 Miracle of Love, 1915. Among his 

 plays were The Wisdom of Folly, 

 1902 ; The Mountain Climber, 1 905 ; 

 Arsene Lupin, 1909 ; and Mrs. 

 Skeffington, 1910. 



Hamilton, SIR EDWARD (1772- 

 1851). British sailor. Born March 

 12, 1772, when a boy he served for 

 two years with his father, Sir John 

 Hamilton, in the W. Indies. Pro- 

 moted lieut. in 1793, he was present 

 at the siege of Bastia, 1794, and in 

 ] 796 was sent again to the West 

 Indies. In 1799 

 lie led a party 

 in boats into 

 the harbour of 

 Puerto Ca- 

 bello and, un- 

 der heavy fire, 

 seized the 

 Spanish fri- 

 gale Hermi- 

 one,and towed 

 her out. Only 



12 o f his men 



** 



Cosmo Hamilton, 

 British dramatist 



Elliott & Fry 



Sir Edward Hamilton, 

 British admiral 



After Thompson 



were wounded; but Hamilton him- 

 self was badly hit. This unrivalled 

 feat won him a knighthood and the 



naval gold medal. While returning 

 to England he was captured by a 

 French privateer and taken to 

 Paris, where Napoleon is said to 

 have questioned him about his ex- 

 ploit. In 1818 he was created a 

 baronet and became an admiral in 

 1846. He died in London, March 

 21, 1851. 



Hamilton, ELIZABETH (1758- 

 1816). Scottish writer. Born in 

 Belfast, July 21, 1758, and brought 

 up in Scot- 

 1 a n d, she 

 wrote on edu- 

 cational, relig- 

 ious, andphil- 

 an t h r opic 

 subjects ; but 

 her fame rests 

 chiefly on The 

 Cottagers o f 

 Glenburnie, j 

 a story of ' 

 Scottish 

 rural life. Mrs. Hamilton, as she 

 called herself, died at Harrogate, 

 July 23, 1816. 



Hamilton, EMMA, LADY (c. 

 1761-1815). British adventuress. 

 A daughter of Henry Lyon, she is 

 believed to have 

 been born at Ness, 

 in Cheshire, prob- 

 ably in 1 761 .though 

 April 26, 1763, is 

 sometimes given as 

 the date. Her par- 

 ents were in humble 

 circumstances, and 

 her father having 

 died while she was 

 a baby, she was 

 brought up by her 

 grandmother a t 

 Hawarden. She 

 came to London 

 about 1778 as a 

 nursemaid, and 

 there are many con- 

 flicting stories as to 

 her early life and 

 intrigues. In 1 782 

 she became the 

 mistress of the Hon 

 Charles Greville, 

 and four years later 

 of his uncle, Sir 

 William Hamilton, 

 British ambassador 

 at Naples. In 1791 

 Sir William married 

 her at Marylebone, and returned 

 with her to Naples, where she be- 

 came the confidante of the queen. 

 In 1793 she and Nelson first met, 

 but it was five years later, after 

 his victory at the Nile, that they 

 became intimate. Their child, 

 Horatia, was born in 1801, after 

 the return of the Hamiltons and 

 Nelson to England. Hamilton died 

 in 1803, and Nelson in 1805. Lady 

 Hamilton was left with comfort- 



able means, soon swallowed up by 

 her extravagance. 



After being imprisoned for debt, 

 she went to Calais in 1813, and 

 died there Jan. 15, 1815. She 

 made extravagant claims to public 

 reward on account of doubtful 

 services rendered to the state, and 

 is remembered mainly for her 

 liaison with Nelson and for her 

 remarkable beauty, to which over 

 twenty portraits of her by George 

 Romney bear witness. See Me- 

 moirs of Lady Hamilton, 1815 (and 

 later editions) ; Lady Hamilton 

 and Nelson, J. C. Jeaffreson, 1888 ; 

 Emma, Lady Hamilton, H. Gam- 

 lin, 1891 ; Emma, Lady Hamilton, 

 Walter Sichel, 1905. 



Hamilton, LORD GEORGE FRAN- 

 CIS (b. 1845). British politician. A 

 younger son of the 1st duke of 

 Abercorn, he was educated at 

 Harrow. In 1868 he was sent to 

 the House of Commons by the co. 

 of Middlesex, and after the re- 

 distribution of 1885 represented 

 the Baling division until his retire- 

 ment. In 1874 he entered the Con- 

 servative ministry as under-secre- 

 tary for India, and in 1878 was 



Reynolds 



transferred to the office of vice- 

 president of the council. In 1885- 

 86, and again from 1886-92, he was 

 in the cabinet as first lord of the 

 admiralty, and from 1895-1903 

 was secretary for India. 



In 1903 he resigned owing to 

 disagreement with Chamberlain's 

 fiscal proposals, and retired from 

 Parliament in 1906. In 1894 he was 

 chairman of the London County 

 Council, and after his retirement 



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