James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn

James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn, KG, CB, PC (24 August 1838 – 3 January 1913) was a British nobleman and diplomat. He was the son of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and Lady Louisa Russell. He was variously styled Viscount Hamilton (until 1868), Marquess of Hamilton (1868–1885), and finally Duke of Abercorn (from 1885).

Life Account

The duke as Marquess of Hamilton by Leslie Ward, 1881.

Lord Hamilton was educated, like his father, at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. After graduating from Oxford with a B.A., he entered Parliament as Conservative MP for County Donegal, a constituency he represented from 1860 to 1880. After serving as Sheriff of County Tyrone, he re-entered university and emerged with an M.A. in 1865 (he was created a Companion of the Order of the Bath the same year). That year, he also embarked upon a diplomatic mission to Denmark. He served as a Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales from 1866 to 1885; in the latter year, he took over his father's position of Lord Lieutenant of County Donegal, and inherited his father's peerage titles. In 1887 he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland.

Abercorn held several positions after acceding to that title, including Grandmaster of the Ireland Freemasons (1886), Groom of the Stole (1886–1891), Chairman of the British South Africa Company, and announced Edward VII's accession to the throne in 1901 to several countries as a Special Envoy. He was also created a Knight of the Garter, and died of pneumonia in London at the age of seventy-three.

Family and Children

In 1869 he married Lady Maria Anna Curzon-Howe (1848–1929), daughter of Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1796–1870) and Anne Gore (bef. 1832–1877, daughter of Adm. Sir John Gore (d. 1836). They had seven sons and two daughters:
*James Albert Edward Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn (1869–1953)
*Lord Claud Penn Alexander Hamilton (1871–1871, on the same day)
*Lord Charlie Hamilton (1874–1874, on the same day)
*Lady Alexandra Phyllis Hamilton (1876–1918), who had HRH Princess Alexandra of Wales as sponsor at her baptism, she was lost at sea aboard RMS Leinster, unmarried.
*Lord Claud Francis Hamilton (1874–1874, on the same day)
*Lady Gladys Mary Hamilton (1880–1917), who in 1902 married Ralph Francis Forward-Howard, 7th Earl of Wicklow (1877–1946) She was his first wife; and they had one son.
*Lord Arthur John Hamilton (1883–1914), who was Deputy Master of the Household from 1913, Captain in the Irish Guards and was killed in action at the First Battle of Ypres.
*Lord unnamed Hamilton (1886–1886, on the same day)
*Lord Sir Claud Nigel Hamilton (1889–1975), Captain in the Grenadier Guards, fought in the Second World War and served in the household of King George V, his widow and Queen Elizabeth II as Deputy Master of the Household, as Extra Equerry, as Equerry in Ordinary and as Comptroller, Treasurer and Extra Equerry. In 1933 he married Violet Ruby Ashton. They had no issue.