Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne

Gustavus was born in 1710, probably in Ireland. He was the eldest son of Frederick Hamilton and his wife Sophia Hamilton. His father was from a cadet branch of the Abercorns, who in turn descended from the Scottish Clan Hamilton. He was the eldest son of Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne but stayed heir apparent all his life. Gustavus's mother was a daughter of James Hamilton.[1] His uncles were Gustavus Hamilton and Henry Hamilton.[1]

After his father's death in 1715, he was taken to London by his mother and was educated at Westminster School.[2]

In 1723, he succeeded his grandfather as viscount. In 1736, Lord Boyne, as he now was, was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland. In the year, he also entered the British House of Commons for Newport, Isle of Wight, and sat as Member of Parliament for the constituency until 1741.

In 1737, he was appointed a Commissioner of the Irish Revenue and held this post until his death in 1746.[2]

Boyne and friends (Sir Francis Dashwood, the Earl of Carlisle and Lord Middlesex) in a ship's cabin while sailing from Venice to Lisbon, by Bartolomeo Nazari, c. 1731–1732.

From January to March 1730, Boyne and Edward Walpole were in Venice enjoying the pleasures of the Carnival of Venice. Immediately after their trip, Walpole, the younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, entered Parliament as Member for Lostwithiel in a by-election on 29 April 1730, following the death of Sir Edward Knatchbull. Boyne, however, travelled to Venice again the following winter.[3]

In 1734, Lord Boyne was a founder-member of the Society of Dilettanti, a group of Englishmen who made the Grand Tour and met to discuss, and to exert their influence on, matters of taste in London. Other members of the Society included his "particular friend, the notorious rake" Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer.[4]

Boyne died unmarried on 18 April 1746 and was buried at Stackallen. His cousin Frederick Hamilton succeeded to the viscountcy.[1]

• House of Hamilton, for his father's and mother's family.
• Viscount Boyne, for his title.

• Genealogy of Gustavus Hamilton 2nd Viscount Boyne on The Peerage website
• Portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne, copy after William Hogarth.
• Gustavus Hamilton (1710–1746), Second Viscount Boyne, in Masquerade Costume by Rosalba Carriera.