Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician and art collector.

Life

Born on 3 October 1767 at St. James's Square, London, a son of

Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton and 6th Duke of Brandon (15 July 1740 – 16 February 1819) was a Scottish peer and politician. Background and education Hamilton was the second son of the 5th Duke of Hamilton, by his third wife, Ann ...

, he was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he matriculated on 4 March 1786. He received his MA on 18 February 1789. Hamilton was a Whig, and his political career began in 1802, when he became MP for Lancaster. He remained in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

until 1806, when he was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

, and Ambassador to the court of St. Petersburg until 1807; additionally, he was

Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire. * George Douglas-Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney 1714 - 29 January 1737 *Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton 17 March 1794 – 2 August 1799 * Archibald Douglas-H ...

from 1802 to 1852. He received the numerous titles at his father's death in 1819. He was

Lord High Steward The Lord High Steward is the first of the Great Officers of State in England, nominally ranking above the Lord Chancellor. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, and is now an ''ad hoc'' office that is primarily ceremonial and ...

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

in 1831 and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

's coronation in 1838, and remains the last person to have undertaken this duty twice. He became a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

in 1836. He held the office of

Grand Master Mason This is a list of Grand Master Masons of the Grand Lodge of Scotland: # 1736–1737: William St Clair of Roslin # 1737–1738: George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie # 1738–1739: John Keith, 3rd Earl of Kintore (G.M. of England; 1740) # 1739� ...

of the Freemasons of Scotland between 1820 and 1822. He held the office of President of the

Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) was founded in Edinburgh in 1784 as the Highland Society of Edinburgh. The Society had its root in 1723 when the Society of Improvers of the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland was ...

between 1827 and 1831. He held the office of Trustee of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

between 1834 and 1852. He married Susan Euphemia Beckford, daughter of

William Thomas Beckford William Thomas Beckford (29 September 1760 – 2 May 1844) was an English novelist, art collector, patron of decorative art, critic, travel writer, plantation owner and for some time politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's riches ...

and Lady Margaret Gordon, daughter of

Charles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne Charles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne (c. 1726 – 28 December 1794). The eldest son of John Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aboyne and Grace Lockhart, he succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Aboyne on 7 April 1732. On his death in 1794 he was succeeded in his t ...

, on 26 April 1810 in London, England. Hamilton was a well-known dandy of his day. An obituary notice states that "timidity and variableness of temperament prevented his rendering much service to, or being much relied on by his party ... With a great predisposition to over-estimate the importance of ancient birth ... he well deserved to be considered the proudest man in England." He also supported Napoleon and commissioned the painting ''

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries ''The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries'' is an 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David. It shows French Emperor Napoleon I in uniform in his study at the Tuileries Palace. Despite the detail, it is unlikely that Napoleon posed for the ...

'' by Jacques-Louis David. Lord Lamington, in ''The Days of the Dandies'', wrote of him that 'never was such a magnifico as the 10th Duke, the Ambassador to the Empress Catherine; when I knew him he was very old, but held himself straight as any grenadier. He was always dressed in a military laced undress coat, tights and Hessian boots, &c'. Lady Stafford in letters to her son mentioned 'his great Coat, long Queue, and Fingers cover'd with gold Rings', and his foreign appearance. According to another obituary, this time in Gentleman's Magazine he had 'an intense family pride'.

Death and legacy

Hamilton had a strong interest in Ancient Egyptian

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

, and was so impressed with the work of mummy expert

Thomas Pettigrew Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (28 October 1791 – 23 November 1865), sometimes known as "Mummy" Pettigrew, was a surgeon and antiquarian who became an expert on Ancient Egyptian mummies. He became well known in London social circles for his private ...

that he arranged for Pettigrew to mummify him after his death. He died on 18 August 1852 at age 84 at 12 Portman Square, London, England and was buried on 4 September 1852 at

Hamilton Palace Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries.Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, Scotland. In accordance with his wishes, Hamilton's body was mummified after his death and placed in a

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

of the Ptolemaic period that he had originally acquired in Paris in 1836 ostensibly for the British Museum. At the same time he had acquired the sarcophagus of

Pabasa The ancient Egyptian noble Pabasa was chief steward of the God's Wife of Amun Nitocris I during the Saite Period. He is buried in tomb TT279, which is located in the El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, near Thebes. His sarcophagus was ...

, an important nobleman which is now in the

Kelvingrove Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

. In 1842 Hamilton had begun construction of the

Hamilton Mausoleum Hamilton Mausoleum is a mausoleum located in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was the resting place of the family of the Dukes of Hamilton.Gazetteer for Scotland- Bent cemetery
/ref> His collection of paintings, objects, books and manuscripts was sold for £397,562 in July 1882. The manuscripts were purchased by the German government for £80,000. Some were repurchased by the British government and are now in the

Marriage and issue

By his wife, Susan Beckford, Hamilton had one son and one daughter: *

William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, who married

Princess Marie Amelie of Baden Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Lady Susan Hamilton Lady Susan Harriet Catherine Opdebeck (; 9 June 181428 November 1889) was a Scottish aristocrat. The daughter of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, and Susan Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton, Susan Euphemia Beckford, she at once was a star ...

, who married 1st,

Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, (22 May 181118 October 1864), styled Earl of Lincoln before 1851, was a British politician. Background Newcastle was the son of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcast ...

; 2nd, Jean Alexis Op de Beeck.

Ancestry

References

External links

*
Portrait
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton 1767 births 1852 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Douglas and Clydesdale, Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Lord High Stewards

110 110 may refer to: *110 (number), natural number *AD 110, a year *110 BC, a year *110 film, a cartridge-based film format used in still photography *110 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route *110 (song), 2019 song by Capi ...

107 107 may refer to: *107 (number), the number *AD 107, a year in the 2nd century AD *107 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *107 (New Jersey bus) See also *10/7 (disambiguation) *Bohrium Bohrium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Bh a ...

Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician and art collector. Life Born on 3 October 1767 at St. James's Square, London, a son of Archibald H ...

Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Garter Knights appointed by William IV Lord-Lieutenants of Lanarkshire Mummies People educated at Harrow School UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs who inherited peerages Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia Scottish politicians Scottish art collectors Paintings by Henry Raeburn

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...