Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne

Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne PC (Ire) (1710–1746) was an Irish peer and politician and an enthusiastic admirer of Italy and the Carnival of Venice.


The Viscount Boyne

Portrait of Hamilton in Masquerade Costume, by Rosalba Carriera, c.1730–1731.
Member of Parliament for
Newport (Isle of Wight)
In office
1736–1741
Serving with George Huxley
Preceded byWilliam Fortescue
George Huxley
Succeeded byAnthony Chute
Monoux Cope
Personal details
Born1710
Died18 April 1746(1746-04-18) (aged 35–36)
RelationsGustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne (grandfather)
ParentsFrederick Hamilton
Sophia Hamilton
EducationWestminster School

Birth and origins

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]

Career

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]

Personal life

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]

Family tree
Gustavus Hamilton with parents, and other selected relatives. He never married.
Frederick
1590–1647
Sidney
Vaughan
Christiana
b. c. 1629
Frederick
d. bef. 1646
James of
Manor-
hamilton

d. 1652
Gustavus
1st
Viscount

1642–1723
Elizabeth
Brooke

d. 1721
Frederick
c. 1663 –
1715
Sophia
Hamilton

d. 1748
Gustavus
c. 1685 –
1735
Dorothea
Bellew
Henry
c. 1692 –
1743
Gustavus
2nd
Viscount

1710–1746
Frederick
3rd
Viscount

1718–1772
Richard
4th
Viscount

1724–1789
Georgiana
Bury
Gustavus
5th
Viscount

1749–1816
Martha
Somerville
Legend
XXXGustavus
Hamilton
XXXViscounts
Boyne

See also

References

  1. Debrett, John (1828). Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. vol. II (17th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 765.
  2. Lodge, John (1789). Mervyn Archdall (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. vol. V. Dublin: James Moore. p. 178.
  3. "Gustavus Hamilton (1710–1746), Second Viscount Boyne, in Masquerade Costume". www.metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  4. "Portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne". www.philamuseum.org. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
William Fortescue
George Huxley
Member of Parliament for
Newport (Isle of Wight)

1736–1741
With: George Huxley
Succeeded by
Anthony Chute
Monoux Cope
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Gustavus Hamilton
Viscount Boyne
1723–1746
Succeeded by
Frederick Hamilton
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