He succeeded his father as the 6th Duke of Hamilton on 15th November 1712, after his father lost the celebrated duel in Hyde Park, Westminster, with Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, over a disputed inheritance. Lord Hamilton attended Winchester College from 1716 to 1717. Hamilton matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 2nd May 1718 and was created a Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) on 6th June 1719.
At the foundation of the noted charity, the Foundling Hospital in London, Hamilton was one of the charity's first governors and his name is listed on the organisation's royal charter, granted in October 1739.
He married Lady Anne Cochrane, a daughter of the 4th Earl of Dundonald, on 14th February 1723 and they had one child:
Anne died from the effects of her first and only childbirth a month later. Hamilton married, secondly, Elizabeth Strangways, but she died childless on 3rd November 1729.
Still yearning company and intimacy, he then married Anne Spencer on 21st August 1737 and they had three children:
Lady Anne Hamilton, later Anne Chichester, Marchioness of Donegall (1738–80)
Johnston, George Harvey. "The Douglases of Angus." The Heraldry of the Douglases: With Notes on All the Males of the Family, Descriptions of the Arms, Plates and Pedigrees. Edinburgh: W. & A.K. Johnston, Limited, 1907.47. Print.
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with James by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with James:
b. 5 Jan 1702/3
d. 2 Mar 1742/43
Child of James Hamilton Anne Cochrane
James Hamilton b. 5 Jul 1724, d. 17 Jan 1758
Children of James Hamilton & Anne Spencer
Lady Anne Hamilton b. Nov 1738, d. 11 Nov 1780
Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton+7 b. 15 Jul 1740, d. 16 Feb 1819
Lt.-Col. Lord Spencer Hamilton. Jun 1742, d. 20 Mar 1791