Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley

Claud was born in 1546 (baptised 9 June), probably at Paisley, Scotland. He was the youngest son of James Hamilton and his wife Margaret Douglas. His father was from the House of Hamilton, being the 2nd Earl of Arran in Scotland and 1st Duke of Châtellerault in France.[1] Claud's mother was a daughter of James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton. Both parents were Scottish. They had married in September 1532.[2]

His uncle John Hamilton, an illegitimate son of his grandfather, the 1st Earl of Arran, was commendatory abbot of Paisley Abbey around the time of his birth. In 1553 this uncle succeeded David Beaton as Archbishop of St Andrews and agreed to pass the position as commendator to his nephew Claud, who was then about seven years old.[16]

In March 1560, when he was 14, he was sent as a hostage to England by the Treaty of Berwick.[18]

On 2 May 1568, he helped Mary, Queen of Scots, to escape from Loch Leven Castle,[19] and afterwards on 13 May 1568 fought for her at the defeat of Langside. His estates having been forfeited because of condemnation, Hamilton was concerned in the murder of the Regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in 1570, and also in that of the Regent Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox in the following year; but in 1573 he recovered his estates.[20]

George, Lord Seton and his children in 1572, including Margaret, Lady Paisley, Robert, Earl of Winton, Sir John Seton of Barns and Alexander, Earl of Dunfermline

On 1 August 1574 at Niddry Castle, Hamilton married Margaret Seton,[21] the daughter of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton and his wife, Isabel Hamilton.[22] Among her siblings were Robert Seton, 1st Earl of Winton; Sir John Seton of Barnes, attendant to the Earl of Leicester in 1575,[23] Master Carver to Philip II of Spain and Master of Horse to James VI; Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Urquhart, Lord Fyvie, and Prior of Pluscarden; and Sir William Seton, who married Janet Dunbar.

Claud and Margaret had many children, including:

1. James (1575–1618), was created the 1st Earl of Abercorn in 1603;[24]
2. John, married Johanna Everard, daughter of Levimus Everard;[25]
3. Claud (died 1614), of Shawfield, was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland,[26][27] and whose daughter Margaret married Sir John Stewart of Methven;[28]
4. George (died before 1657) of Greenlaw and Roscrea, married twice and lived at Derrywoon;[29][30][31]
5. Frederick (1590–1647), built Manorhamilton and served Sweden in the Thirty Years' War;[32]
6. Margaret (died 1623), married William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas.[33]

In 1562 his eldest brother, James, was declared insane.[4] His father died at Hamilton on 22 January 1575.[34] His brother James as the eldest inherited the title and estate but because of his insanity, John the second brother had to stand in for him.

Then in 1579 the privy council decided to arrest both him and his brother, Lord John Hamilton (c. 1535–1604) (afterwards 1st Marquess of Hamilton), to punish them for their past misdeeds; but the brothers escaped to the Kingdom of England, where Elizabeth I of England used them as pawns in the diplomatic game, and later Claud lived for a short time in France.[20]

In April 1583 Claud was in exile in England at Widdrington Castle in Northumberland. He wrote to Queen Elizabeth and Frances Walsingham for aid for his expenses living in this "sober house" especially as his wife was soon to visit.[35]

Returning to Scotland in 1586 and mixing again in politics, he sought to reconcile James VI of Scotland with his mother; he was in communication with Philip II of Spain in the interests of Mary and the Roman Catholic religion, and neither the failure of Anthony Babington's plot nor even the defeat of the Spanish Armada put an end to these intrigues.[20]

In 1587 he was created a Scottish Lord of Parliament as Lord Paisley, when the abbey was erected as a barony.[36] With this the Hamilton family gained a second seat in Parliament, the first being held by his elder brother John for his eldest brother James, during his insanity. This seat in the Scottish Parliament was occupied after his death by his grandson James, the 2nd earl of Abercorn and Lord Paysley became a subsidiary title of the earls, later marquesses and dukes of Abercorn, which was held by the heir apparent.

In 1589 some of his letters were seized and Lord Paisley, as he was now, suffered a short imprisonment, after which he practically disappeared from public life.[20] He suffered from mental illness in his later years. In November 1590 he broke down in tears after reading the Bible and it was thought he would not recover 'in regard of the infirmity haunting and falling on many descended of that house'.[37] His eldest brother James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran had been suffering from a mental illness since 1562. In 1598 he allowed James, his eldest son, styled the Master of Paisley, to act on his behalf with regard to all the affairs concerning the town.[38] His wife died in March 1616.[39] His son predeceased him in 1618. He died in 1621 and was buried in Paisley Abbey.[40][41] He was succeeded by his grandson, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Abercorn.

• Earl of Abercorn – for his eldest son's title.
• Earl of Arran (Scotland) – for his father's title.
• Earl of Morton – for the title held by his mother's family.
• House of Hamilton – for his father's family.
• Lord Seton – for the title held by his wife's family.

• Bain, Joseph, ed. (1898), Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots: 1547–1562, 1, Edinburgh: H M General Register House
• Boyd, William K., ed. (1907), Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Scotland: 1574–1581, 5, Edinburgh: H. M. General Register House
• Boyd, William K., ed. (1936), Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Scotland: 1589–1593, 10, Edinburgh: H. M. General Register House
• Burke, Bernard (1869), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (31st ed.), London: Harrison (for details on his siblings and children)
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Paisley, Claud Hamilton, Lord", Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 (11 ed.), New York: Encyclopædia Britannica Company, p. 519
• 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
• Debrett, John (1828), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington - Scotland and Ireland
• Dunlop, Robert (1890), "Hamilton, James, second Earl of Arran and Duke of Châtelherault (d. 1575)", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: MacMillan and Co., pp. 167–170
• Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1890), "Hamilton, Claud, Lord Paisley (1543(?)–1622)", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: MacMillan and Co., pp. 141–144
• Holmes, Peter (2004), "Hamilton, Claud, first Lord Paisley (1546?–1621)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 776–778, ISBN 0-19-861374-1
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 5, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts
• 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 (for Lord Paisley)
• Paul, Sir James Balfour (1907), The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 4, Edinburgh: David Douglas – Fife to Hyndford (for Hamilton)
• Paul, Sir James Balfour (1911), The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 8, Edinburgh: David Douglas – Sumerville to Winton (for Seton under Winton)

• Genealogy of Claud Hamilton, Lord Paisley on The Peerage website