Alexander Hamilton (1684 – 28 December 1763) of Innerwick and of Ballencrieff, Linlithgow was a Scottish politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1727 to 1741.

Early life

Hamilton was the only son of James Hamilton of Ballencrieff and his wife Margaret (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Nicolson) Hamilton. After his father's death, his mother remarried to Sir Thomas Nicolson, 1st Baronet, with whom she had several daughters (his half-sisters), one of whom was Margaret Nicolson, the wife of

William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian, ( – 28 July 1767) was a Scottish nobleman, styled Master of Jedburgh from 1692 to 1703 and Lord Jedburgh from 1703 to 1722. Early life He was the son of William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian and Lady Jea ...

(Hamilton's brother-in-law). His maternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Nicolson, 2nd Baronet and Lady Margaret Livingstone (daughter of Alexander Livingstone, 2nd Earl of Linlithgow), and his paternal grandfather was Andrew Hamilton of

Monktonhall Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English in origin, with ''mussel' ...

. In 1687, at age three, he succeeded his father. His wardship was granted to George Baillie in 1692. He succeeded Sir Francis Hamilton, 3rd Baronet, to the name but not the lands of Innerwick in 1714. His family, the Hamiltons of Innerwick, acquired their lands in the fourteenth century.

Career

At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, Hamilton was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for

Linlithgowshire West Lothian, also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925), is a counties of Scotland, historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the River Avon, Falkirk, Avon to the wes ...

with the backing of

Lord Hopetoun John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, (25 September 1860 – 29 February 1908) was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first governor-general of Australia, in office from 1900 to 1902. He wa ...

. He was appointed Secretary for Scotland to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

by 1733. He was returned again for Linlithgowshire after a contest at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scot ...

. He voted with the Administration in all recorded divisions. He did not stand at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

. He was given a place as

Postmaster General for Scotland The Postmaster General for Scotland, based in Edinburgh, was responsible for the postal service in the Kingdom of Scotland from approximately 1616 until the Act of Union unified Scotland and England in 1707, creating a new state called the Kin ...

in 1746, holding the post for the rest of his life.

Personal life

He married before 1724, Lady Margaret Kerr (1691–1768), daughter of

William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian Lieutenant-General William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian, (1661 – 28 February 1722) was a Scottish peer who held a number of minor military and political offices. He was known by the courtesy title of Lord Newbattle until 1692, when he su ...

and Lady Jane Campbell, the third daughter of

Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll Archibald may refer to: People and characters *Archibald (name), a masculine given name and a surname * Archibald (musician) (1916–1973), American R&B pianist * Archibald, a character from the animated TV show '' Archibald the Koala'' Other us ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * James Hamilton, who was keeper of His Majesty's Stores, appointed as of Chattam, and succeeded his father. * Alexander Hamilton * Col. Archibald Hamilton (1728–1795), who married the Alice Colden, daughter of

Alexander Colden Alexander Colden (August 13, 1716 – December 12, 1774) was an American merchant and public official in Colonial New York who was the son of Cadwallader Colden. Early life Colden was born on August 13, 1716, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in wha ...

and granddaughter of

Cadwallader Colden Cadwallader Colden (7 February 1688 – 28 September 1776) was an Irish-born physician, scientist and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New York from 1760 to 1762 and again from 1763 to 1765. Early life Colden was born on 7 F ...

, a

colonial governor of New York The territory which would later become the state of New York was settled by European colonists as part of the New Netherland colony (parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware) under the command of the Dutch West India C ...

. * Jean Douglas Hamilton, who married Alexander Hay of

Mordington Mordington is an agricultural parish in the extreme south-east of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders region. It is five miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed and borders Northumberland to the east, and south (where the boundary is the Whiteadder Wat ...

(d. 1788). Hamilton died on 28 December 1763 leaving five sons and a daughter.

Descendants

Through his eldest son James, he was a grandfather of Alexander James Hamilton (b. 1755), who served in the 45th Regiment and fought in America from 1776 to 1778, when he married Mary Deane (1759–1851), daughter of Irish-born Richard Deane of New York, where Hamilton thereafter resided.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Alexander 1684 births 1763 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741