Basil Hamilton (8 September 1696 – 14 November 1742) was a Scottish
Jacobite.
Early life
He was the second son of
Lord Basil Hamilton
Lord Basil Hamilton (1671 – 27 August 1701) was a Scottish aristocrat who drowned trying to save his servant.
Early life
Hamilton was baptized on 16 December 1671 at Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. His was the sixth son of William Hamilton, Duke o ...
and Mary Dunbar, granddaughter and heiress of
Sir David Dunbar, 1st Baronet, of
Baldoon
Baldoon Castle was a 16th-century castle about south west of Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of the river Bladnoch.Coventry, Martin (2001). ''The Castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. p. 65
History
The Clan Dunbar, ...
. His elder brother, William Hamilton, succeeded their father but died unmarried before November 1703, after which the Baldoon estate passed to Basil.
His sisters were Eleanor Hamilton (wife of
John Murray of Philiphaugh) and Catherine Hamilton (wife of
Thomas Cochrane, 6th Earl of Dundonald).
His father was the sixth son of
William Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton
William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton (24 December 1634 – 18 April 1694), also known as Lord William Douglas and the Earl of Selkirk, was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was the eldest son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas by his seco ...
and
Anne Hamilton, ''
suo jure
''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...
''
Duchess of Hamilton. His maternal grandfather was David Dunbar the Younger of Baldoon.
Career
During the
Jacobite rising of 1715
The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ;
or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...
he commanded a troop of horse under
Thomas Forster
Thomas Forster (1683 – October 1738), of Adderstone Hall, Northumberland, was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1716. He served as a general of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising ...
and was taken prisoner at the
Battle of Preston. He was sentenced to death in 1716, but reprieved through the influence of his uncle
Lord Orkney. His estates were forfeited, but successfully claimed by his mother, and the forfeiture was reversed in 1733.
In
1734
Events
January– March
* January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America.
* February 16 – ...
, he unsuccessfully stood as
the Duke of Buccleuch's candidate for
Dumfries Burghs. He advised against another Jacobite uprising in 1739. In 1741 he was returned to Parliament for
Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright ( ; ) is a town at the mouth of the River Dee, Galloway, River Dee in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, southwest of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie. A former royal burgh, it is the traditional county town of Kirkcudbrightshire.
His ...
, but died the following year.
Personal life
In , Hamilton was married to Isabella Mackenzie (died 1725), a daughter of Elizabeth ( Paterson) Mackenzie (a daughter of
Kenneth Mackenzie of Suddie) and Col. Hon. Alexander Mackenzie (a son of
Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth). Together, they had two sons and two daughters, including:
* Mary Hamilton (1720–1750), who married Ranald
Macdonald of Clanranald.
* Elizabeth Hamilton (born 1721), who died young.
*
Dunbar Hamilton (1722–1799), who succeeded as the 4th
Earl of Selkirk
Earl of Selkirk is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, used since 1646. It has rules of inheritance subject to unusual and unique provisions.
History
The title was created on 14 August 1646 for William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, Lord W ...
in 1744 and resumed the name of Douglas.
* Basil Hamilton, who died young.
His wife died on 6 April 1725. Hamilton died on 14 November 1742.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Basil
1696 births
1742 deaths
Scottish Jacobites
British MPs 1741–1747
People of the Jacobite rising of 1715
Scottish prisoners sentenced to death