Lord George Hamilton
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Lord George Francis Hamilton, GCSI, PC (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hamilton was Member of Parliament for Middlesex (1868-85) and for Ealing (1885-1906). He gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the Rifle Brigade and Coldstream Guards and received the degree of honorary LLD from Glasgow University and of honorary DCL from Oxford University. He was Justice of Peace in Middlesex and Westminster. He was invested as Privy Counsellor in 1878 and as GCSI in 1903.
Hamilton served as Under-Secretary of State for India (1874-78) and Vice-President of the Committee on Education (1878-80). He served also as First Lord of the Admiralty in the first two governments of Lord Salisbury (1885-1886; 1886-1892). In 1894 he was elected as Chairman of the London School Board, standing down after one year when the Unionists won the general election and he became Secretary of State for India under Salisbury and Balfour (1895-1903). He was Captain of Deal Castle (1899-1923) and Major of Deal (1909).
In 1916 he was part of the Mesopotamia Commission of Inquiry
[edit] Family and children
A son of the 1st Duke of Abercorn, in 1871 Hamilton married Lady Maud Caroline Lascelles (1846–1938), daughter of Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood (1797–1857) and Lady Louisa Thynne (d. 1859, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Bath). They had three sons:
- Ronald James Hamilton, OBE (1872–1958), who fought in the First World War, was wounded and in 1919 invested as O.B.E. He was awarded with the decoration of the Order of the Crown of Belgium. He served as First Secretary in the Diplomatic Service. In 1915 he married Florence Marguerite (Sarah Brooke) Hanna (d. 1959). They had one daughter:
- Major Anthony George Hamilton (1874–1936), who fought in the First World War and gained the rank of Major in the service of the East Kent Regiment. He died unmarried and without issue.
- Vice-Admiral Robert Cecil Hamilton (1882–1947), who fought in the First World War. In 1911 he married Edith Maud Paley (d. 1967), daughter of the barrister Algernon Herbert Paley.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rev. Joseph Diggle |
Chairman of the London School Board 1894–1895 |
Succeeded by 6th Marquess of Londonderry |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by George Byng and Henry du Pre Labouchere |
Member of Parliament for Middlesex 2-seat constituency (with George Byng, 1857–1874; Octavius Edward Coope, 1874–1885) 1868–1885 |
Succeeded by (constituency abolished) |
| Preceded by (new constituency) |
Member of Parliament for Ealing 1885–1906 |
Succeeded by Sir Herbert Nield |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff |
Under-Secretary of State for India 1874–1878 |
Succeeded by Edward Stanhope |
| Preceded by The Earl of Northbrook |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1885–1886 |
Succeeded by The Marquess of Ripon |
| Preceded by The Marquess of Ripon |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1886–1892 |
Succeeded by The Earl Spencer |
| Preceded by Henry Hartley Fowler |
Secretary of State for India 1895–1903 |
Succeeded by William St John Brodrick |
