Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne

Gustavus was born in 1642,[lower-alpha 1] probably in Manorhamilton Castle, County Leitrim, Ireland, built by his father. He was a younger son of Frederick Hamilton and Sidney Vaughan.[1][4][3] His father was the founder of a cadet branch of the House of Hamilton through the intermediate of the House of Abercorn, being the fifth and youngest son of Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley, and brother of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn. This cadet branch would become the noble branch of the viscounts of Boyne[5] when Gustavus was created Viscount Boyne near the end of his life. Gustavus's mother was a daughter of Sir John Vaughan, who had been governor of Londonderry.[6]

His father named him for the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus for whom he had fought during the Thirty Years' War in Germany.[7]

Gustavus Hamilton studied at Trinity College, Dublin[2] but seems to have abandoned his studies without obtaining a degree as in 1672 he went to France and became a captain in the regiment of Sir George Hamilton. Sir George was the son of his cousin Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong. Gustavus returned in 1676[12] after Sir George's death. Soon afterwards Gustavus was made a captain in the Irish Army.[13] In 1677 he accompanied James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, to Oxford where he was awarded the degree of a Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford.[14] He was sworn of the Privy Council of England on the accession of King James II of England in 1685.[15] Shortly after this appointment he quit this King's service[16] and retired to his estate in Fermanagh.

Hamilton married Elizabeth Brooke, second daughter of Sir Henry Brooke of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh.[17]

Gustavus and Elizabeth had four children, three sons and a daughter:

1. Frederick (died 1715), married Sophia Hamilton in 1707[18] and had a son who became the 2nd Viscount;[19] but died young predeceasing his parents;[20]
2. Gustavus of Red Wood, King's County (died 1734), MP for Donegal;[21]
3. Elizabeth, married Charles Lambart;[22] and
4. Henry (1692–1743), MP for Donegal.[23]

At the Glorious Revolution, Hamilton was appointed colonel of the 20th Foot by William of Orange in 1689 and fought with his regiment in the defence of Coleraine.[24] Driven from there by Richard Hamilton, he fell back on Enniskillen, of which he was appointed governor.[25] In 1689 he was attainted by the Patriot Parliament.[26]

On 1 July 1690, at the Battle of the Boyne, his horse was shot under him and he almost killed.[27]

In June 1691 he fought at the Siege of Athlone under Ginkel where on 30 June Gustavus took part in the daring attack over a ford on the River Shannon that captured the town.[28] In this attack he commanded the cavalry together with General Thomas Tollemache while the infantry was commanded by Mackay, Tettau, Monceau de la Melonière and the Prince of Hesse.[29]

In July he fought at the Battle of Aughrim. Ginkel organised his army in 4 divisions numbered from the north to the south and in two lines. Gustavus with his regiment was in the front line of the second division, i.e. a centre-right position.[30]

In 1691 Hamilton was appointed Vice-Admiral of Ulster, a honorary position, which he held until 1710 when he passed it on to his son Frederick. It reverted to him on Frederick's unexpected death on 10 December 1715.[31] He therefore was Vice-Admiral of Ulster again from 1716 until his death in 1723.[32][33]

Hamilton was promoted brigadier-general in 1696[34] and major-general in 1704.[35]

In May 1710, Hamilton was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland for Queen Anne.[36]

From 1692 to 1714, Hamilton sat in the Irish House of Commons. In that period general elections were held in 1692, 1695, 1703, and 1713. He was elected for Donegal County in 1692,[37] 1695,[38] and 1703.[39][40] In the general election of 1713 he was elected for Strabane Borough and sat until 1714.[41]

He bought land near Slane in County Meath from the Osborne family and built Stackallan House (also spelled Stackallen).[42]

In 1715 he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Hamilton of Stackallan, in the County of Meath by King George I.[43] On 20 August 1717, Hamilton was further honoured by the King, when he was created Viscount Boyne, in the Province of Leinster, also in the Irish Peerage.[44]

His wife died in 1721.[45]

Lord Boyne died on 16 September 1723 [46] and was buried in the church of Stackallan.[47] His eldest son Frederick having predeceased him in 1715, Boyne was succeeded by his grandson Gustavus as the 2nd Viscount Boyne.[48]

• List of Parliaments of Ireland

• Boyle, John (1867), The Battle-Fields of Ireland, New York: Robert Coddington
• Brewer, James Norris (1826), The Beauties of Ireland, 2, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, & Piper
• 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 (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 Family Tree)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1912), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 2 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Bass to Canning (for Boyne)
• Daniell, P. H. Blackburne, ed. (1907), Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, March 1st, 1675 to February 29th, 1676, London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office – 1675 to 1676
• 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
• Haydn, Joseph (1851), The Book of Dignities; Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman's
• Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1890), "Hamilton, Gustavus, Viscount Boyne (1639–1723)", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: MacMillan and Co., pp. 159–160
• House of Commons (1878), Return. Members of Parliament – Part II. Parliaments of Great Britain, 1705–1796. Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1801–1874. Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of Scotland, 1357–1707. Parliaments of Ireland, 1599–1800., London: H. M. Stationery Office
• Lewis, Samuel (1840), A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 2 (2 ed.), London: S. Lewis & Co.
• Lodge, John (1789a), The Peerage of Ireland, 3, Dublin: James Moore – Earls (for Clanbrassil)
• Lodge, John (1789b), The Peerage of Ireland, 5, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Boyne)
• Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1855), The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, 3, London: Longman Brown Greens & Longmans
• Murtagh, Harman (2004), "Hamilton, Gustavus, first Viscount Boyne (1642–1723)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 809–810, ISBN 978-0198614111
• Paul, James Balfour (1904), The Scots Peerage, 1, Edinburgh: David Douglas
• 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 (for Restoration)
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)
• Webb, Alfred (1878), "Hamilton, Gustavus, Viscount Boyne", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, pp. 241–242
• Wills, Rev. James (1841), "Gustavus Hamilton, Viscount Boyne", Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, 3, Glasgow: MacGregor, Polson & Co, pp. 358–397