Clan Hamilton
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Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Scottish_Clans Hamilton
Scotland Project > Scottish Clans > Clan Hamilton
Contents |
Welcome to Clan Hamilton
| Clan Hamilton Team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team Leader | ||
| Team Members | Carole Greenwald, Allison Hunter Hill, Marty Acks, Tom Hamilton-Baillie | |
- Clan Chief:
- Crest:
- Motto:
- Slogan/War Cry:
- Region:
- Historic Seat:
- Plant badge:
- Pipe music:
- Gaelic name:
Clan Team
Team Goals
The focus of this team's work is to identify, improve and maintain profiles associated with the Lairds and Chiefs of Clan Clan Hamilton together with members bearing the name Hamilton, the related families and those recognised as septs of Clan Hamilton.
Team To Do List
This list will be developed by the Team. If you are working on a specific task, please list it here:
- promoting the entries of those bearing the name Hamilton on Wikitree.
- ensuring entries appearing on Wikitree are as accurate as possible, correcting mistakes once spotted.
- encouraging interest in and study of Clan Hamilton.
Septs
Clan History
Clan Branches
Other Names Associated with the Clan
Allied Clans
Rival Clans
Clan Research and Free Space Pages
Source Material
Image Credits and Acknowledgements
Information below this line should be summarized and included on this team page. Detailed information can be moved to additional Clan pages.
Clan Chief: Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton, 13th Duke of Brandon. Styled Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale. He is Duke of Hamilton, Marquess of Douglas, Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Angus, Earl of Lanark, Earl of Arran and Cambridge, Lord Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest, Lord Machanshyre and Polmont and Lord Aven and Innerdale in the Peerage of Scotland, and Duke of Brandon and Baron Dutton, in the Peerage of Great Britain. Hereditary Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Clan Chief of Clan Hamilton. Succeeded his father in 2010.
Crest- On top of the helmet the crest sits on a wreath, or a crest coronet (the term ducal cornet is often used instead of crest coronet), or a chapeau. When the crest issues from a ducal (crest) coronet or sits on a cap of maintenance, also called a chapeau, it signifies that it was granted as a privilege of office or rank of nobility.
Crest Badge - The Clan Hamilton crest badge consists of the crest of the Duke of Hamilton's coat of arms encircled with a strap and buckle, the strap bearing the family motto "Through". The strap and buckle is the sign of a clansman and shows a family affiliation by wearing the head of the family's crest within the strap. Although the crest badge is purchased by, and owned by the clansman, the heraldic crest and motto on it belong to the Duke. They are the Duke's heraldic property which clansmen are only permitted to wear.
Motto -Through - Gaelic Motto - Tromih
Tartan The Hamilton Tartan consists of three broad blue stripes crossing three broad blue stripes formed by single thin white stripes. This same pattern, or sett, is carried on a field of red (Dress) or green (Hunting). As the wool in older times was dyed with natural vegetable dyes, these colors were much more subdued and muted when compared with material colored with modern dyes. This has led to the terms "Ancient' or "Muted" when naming tartans of this type. The darker and much brighter colored tartans are likewise termed "Modern".
Plant Badge - Bay Leaves
Gaelic Name - Hamultun
District - Renfrewshire
Region - Lowlands
Pipe music -
Septs
Names associated with the clan
HAMILTON HAMMELTOUNE HAMMYLTOUNE HAMYLTOUNE HAMMYLTOUN HAMYLTONE HAMULTHONE CADZOW
CLAN NAME HAMILTON
| Clan Name | Crest Badge | Crest | Hamilton Shield | Lands | Tartan
Dress Ancient | Tartan Hunting
Ancient |
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| CLAN HAMILTON | 
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Origins of the Clan
The Hamilton chiefs descend from Walter Fitz Gilbert of Hambledon who appears in a charter to the Monastery of Paisley in about 1249. His lands appear to have originally been in Renfrewshire, however his support for Robert the Bruce rewarded him with lands in Lanarkshire and the Lothians These lands included Cadzow, which later became the town of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
Chief among the legends still clinging to this important family is that which gives a descent from the House of Beaumont, a branch of which is stated to have held the manor of Hamilton, Leicestershire; and it is argued that the three cinquefoils of the Hamilton shield bear some resemblance to the single cinquefoils of the Beaumonts. In face of this it has been recently shown that the single cinquefoil was also borne by the Umfravilles of Northumberland, who appear to have owned a place called Hamilton in that county. It may be pointed out that Simon de Montfort, the great earl of Leicester, in whose veins flowed the blood of the Beaumonts, obtained about 1245 the wardship of Gilbert de Umfraville, second earl of Angus, and it is conceivable that this name Gilbert may somehow be responsible for the legend of the Beaumont descent, seeing that the first authentic ancestor of the Hamiltons is one Walter FitzGilbert. He first appears in 1294–1295 as one of the witnesses to a charter by James, the high steward of Scotland, to the monks of Paisley; and in 1296 his name appears in the Homage Roll as Walter FitzGilbert of "Hameldone." Who this Gilbert of "Hameldone" may have been is uncertain.
Wars of Scottish Independence
As already mentioned Walter Fitz Gilbert was rewarded with lands for his support of king Robert the Bruce. Walter's son, David Fitz Walter, fought at the Battle of Neville's Cross for David II of Scotland in 1346. David was captured and was not released until a substantial ransom was paid. 15th and 16th centuries
In 1474 James Hamilton,1st Lord Hamilton married Princess Mary, daughter of James III of Scotland. Their son was James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran. The family extended Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran. The second Earl of Arran, James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault was heir to the throne of both James IV of Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was made regent of Scotland while the queen was still a child and proposed to marry his son to her, in order to secure his claim to the throne. However the marriage did not take place and Mary married an heir to the French throne instead. James Hamilton was created Duke of Châtellerault because he had figured prominently in the marriage negotiations with France. In 1561 he was sent into exile for five years because he openly opposed Mary's marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, having had his hopes rekindled when Mary's marriage ended upon the death of the Dauphin of France.
James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh was a Scottish supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, who assassinated James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland, in January 1570.
The 4th Earl of Arran, James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton became Lord Chancellor of Scotland and was made keeper of both of the strategic royal castles; Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. He had been advanced to the rank of Marquess in 1599. His brother was Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley who had been created Lord Paisley in 1587 and later Lord Abercorn. This branch of the family also prospered and Abercorn was advanced to an earldom and later a dukedom in 1868.
17th century and civil war
Lennoxlove House
The third Marquess, James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton was a staunch supporter of Charles I. Charles rewarded him with the dukedom in 1643 which made Hamilton the premier peer in Scotland. Hamilton led a royalist army into England but was defeated at the Battle of Preston (1648) by the Parliamentarians of Oliver Cromwell. Hamilton was later executed in 1649 at Whitehall shortly before the king met the same fate. Hamilton's brother, William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton was also a brave soldier but was killed at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The title passed to Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, daughter of the first Duke. She was a woman of great intellect but she inherited estates heavily burdened by debt. Matters were made worse with her kinsman Hamilton, Earl of Abercorn who challenged her right to succeeded to the title. Anne married William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk (later Duke of Hamilton). Their son was James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton who was killed in a duel in London in 1712.
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