George Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Abercorn

George Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Abercorn (c. 1636 – before 1683) died unmarried in Padua on a voyage to Rome. He was succeeded by Claud Hamilton, heir of Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, second son of the 1st Earl of Abercorn.

The Right Honourable The Earl of Abercorn
Earl of Abercorn
Reign	c. 1670 – bef. 1683
Predecessor	James Hamilton
Successor	Claud Hamilton
Born	George Hamilton c. 1636
Died	before 1683 Padua, Veneto, Italy
Father	James Hamilton
Mother	Katherine Clifton

Birth and origins

George was born about 1636, probably in Paisley, Scotland, as the third son of James Hamilton and his wife Katherine Clifton.[1] His father was the 2nd Earl of Abercorn. George's mother was Dowager Duchess of Lennox from her previous marriage and Baroness Clifton of Leighton Bromswold in her own right. Both his parents were Catholic. They had married in 1627.[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]

Family tree

George Hamilton with parents and other selected relatives. He never married. James 1st Earl 1575–1618 Marion Boyd d. 1632 Recusant James 2nd Earl d. 1670 Katherine 2nd Baroness Clifton c. 1590 – 1637 Claud 2nd Baron H. of Strabane d. 1638 James Lord Paisley c. 1635 – bef. 1670 George 3rd Earl c. 1636 – bef. 1683 James 3rd Baron H. of Strabane 1633–1655 George 4th Baron H. of Strabane 1636/7 – 1668 Claud 4th Earl 1659–1691 Charles 5th Earl d. 1701 Legend XXX George Hamilton XXX Earls of Abercorn This family tree is partly derived from the Abercorn pedigree pictured in Cokayne.[5] Also see the list of siblings in the text.

He appears at the bottom of the list of brothers below as the youngest:

1. James (c. 1635 – before 1670), who as the heir apparent was known by the courtesy title of Lord Paisley, made himself a Presbyterian,[6] married, had a daughter but no son and predeceased his father;[7]
2. William (died before 1670), who became a colonel but predeceased his father unmarried in the German wars;[8] and
3. George (c. 1636 – before 1683).

On 17 September 1637 his mother died in Scotland when he was about a year old. She was buried without ceremony as she was Catholic.[9] At that time his father was deep in debt owing more than 400,000 merks (about £20,000 Sterling) to his creditors.[10][11][12][lower-alpha 3]

In 1649 his father was excommunicated by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland as a Catholic and ordered to leave the kingdom.[13] On 22 June 1652 he sold Paisley to the Earl of Angus for £13,333 6s 8d Scots (about £1100 Sterling).[14][lower-alpha 4]

Father's succession

His two elder brothers grew up to reach adulthood but predeceased his father, making him the only surviving son and heir. He therefore succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Abercorn at his father's death in about 1670.[15][16]

Death and succession

Lord Abercorn died in his forties, unmarried, about 1680, in Padua, Veneto, Italy, on his way to Rome,[17][18]

With his death the senior line of the Abercorns failed. The title passed to the nearest cadet branch which was that of the barons Hamilton of Strabane, who descended from his uncle Claud. The representative of this line, Claud's grandson, Claud Hamilton, 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane, therefore became the 4th Earl of Abercorn.[19][20]

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1636, about	Born.[1]
1	1637, 17 Sep	Mother died in Scotland.[9]
13	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[21]
16	1652, 22 Jun	Father sold Paisley.[14]
24	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II.[22]
34	1670, about	Father died,[15] and he succeeded as the 3rd Earl.
44	1680, about	Died in Padua.[17]

Notes and references

1. The date is constrained by his return from his travels in April 1627[2] and his wife's excommunication on 3 February 1628.[3]
2. Cokayne (1910) places the marriage "about 1632.[4]
3. The merk was worth 13s 4d or 2/3 of a £ Scots.[11] As there were 12 £ Scots to the £ Sterling,[12] the merk was worth about 1 English Shilling.
4. During the reign of James I, the £ Sterling was 12 £ Scots.[12]

1. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 8: "GEORGE (HAMILTON), EARL OF ABERCORN, etc. [S.], 3rd, but 1st surv. s. and h., b. about 1636."
2. Metcalfe 1909, p. 236, line 16: "... but in April 1627, her son the Earl had returned and had openly declared himself a Catholic ..."
3. Metcalfe 1909, p. 236, line 33: "On February 3 the Countess was excommunicated."
4. Cokayne 1910, p. 3, line 20: "He m. about 1632, Catherine, Dowager Duchess of LENNOX da. and h. of Gervase (CLIFTON) LORD CLIFTON OF LEIGHTON BROMSWOLD, by Catherine dau. and h. of Sir Henry Darcy of Leighton afsd."
5. Cokayne 1910, p. 4: "Tabular pedigree of the Earls of Abercorn"
6. Metcalfe 1909, p. 249"the earnest desire of Lord Paisley, the Earl's son, who is of the Religion and of hopeful expectation ..."
7. Paul 1904, p. 49, line 21: "James ... who died before his father ... had only a daughter."
8. Paul 1904, p. 49, line 30: "William ... died before his father, being killed in the wars in Germany, without issue."
9. Cokayne 1913, p. 310: "She d. in Scotland and was bur. 'without ceremonie', 17 Sep. 1637, aged about 45."
10. Cokayne 1910, p. 3, line 26a: "He was then [about 1640] living, but 'more than 400,000 merks in debt'."
11. Meikle 2015, p. xi: "The Scots merk was worth 13s 4d."
12. Meikle 2015, p. 60: "... after the union of the crowns in 1603 ... the Scots pound was set at a fixed rate of twelve to every English pound sterling."
13. Metcalfe 1909, p. 250, line 7: "At length, in 1649, the General Assembly, which, as we have seen, had long since taken the case out of the hands of the Presbytery, pronounced the sentence of excommunication and banishment against him."
14. Metcalfe 1909, p. 310, line 6: "On June 22, 1652, the Earl of Abercorn signed a disposition, by which, for the sum of £13,333 6s 8p. Scots, he sold to the Earl of Angus 'the Lordship and barony of Paisley, comprehending "
15. Cokayne 1910, p. 3, line 26b: "He [the 2nd Earl] d. about 1670."
16. Burke 1949, p. 3, right column: "His lordship d. about 1670 and was s. by his only surviving son, GEORGE, 3rd earl of Abercorn, d. unm. at Padua, before 1683, and was s. by his cousin ..."
17. Paul 1904, p. 49, line 34: "GEORGE, third Earl of Abercorn, succeeded his father but died unmarried in Padua, on his journey to Rome, whereby the male line failed in the eldest branch ... "
18. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 9: "He was living in 1670, but d. unm. at Padua, in Italy, before 1683."
19. Cokayne 1892, p. 153, line 7: "CLAUD (HAMILTON) BARON HAMILTON OF STRABANE [I.], s. and h., bap. 13 Sep. 1659, at St. Audoen's, Dublin. By the death of his cousin about 1680, he became EARL OF ABERCORN etc, [S.]"
20. Debrett 1828, p. 63, line 9"... whose grandson, Claude, 5th baron of Strabane, in Ireland, succeeded as 4th earl of Abercorn, on the death of his cousin, George, 3rd earl;"
21. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
22. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."

• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1892), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 4 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – G to K (for Hamilton of Strabane - citing the 1st version as the letter H of the 2nd is not yet in the public domain)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 1 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Abercorn)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 3 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clifton)
• Debrett, John (1828), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington - England
• Meikle, Maureen M. (2015), The Scottish People 1490–1625, Morrisville, N. C.: Lulu.com, ISBN 978-1-291-51800-9
• Metcalfe, William Musham (1909), A History of Paisley, Paisley: Alexander Gardner
• Paul, Sir James Balfour (1904), The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1, Edinburgh: David Douglas – Abercorn to Balmerino
• Seaward, Paul (2004), "Charles II", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 11, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 122–145, ISBN 0-19-861361-X

External links

• Genealogy of George Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Abercorn on The Peerage website

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by James Hamilton	Earl of Abercorn c. 1670 – bef. 1683	Succeeded by Claud Hamilton