Frederick Hamilton (soldier)
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Sir Frederick Hamilton ( – 1647) was a Scottish soldier who fought for Sweden in the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
in Germany and for the Covenanters in Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. He built
Manorhamilton Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen. History Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the Ir ...
Castle,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
, Ireland. His son Gustavus became the 1st
Viscount Boyne Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan. He had already been created Baron Hamilton of St ...
.


Birth and origins

Frederick was born about 1590 in Scotland, probably at Paisley. He was the youngest of the five sons that lived to adulthood of Claud Hamilton and his wife
Margaret Seton Margaret Seton, Lady Paisley (died 1616) was a Scottish aristocrat, courtier and a favourite of Anne of Denmark. Family background She was a daughter of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton and Isobel Hamilton, a daughter of Sir William Hamilton of San ...
. His father was the 1st Lord Paisley. His father's family descended from Walter FitzGilbert, the founder of the
House of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...
, who had received the barony of
Cadzow Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nor ...
from
Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
. Frederick's mother was a daughter of
George Seton, 7th Lord Seton George Seton V, 7th Lord Seton (1531–1586), was a Lord of the Parliament of Scotland, Master of the Household of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Provost of Edinburgh. He was the eldest son of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and Elizabeth Hay, a daught ...
by his wife Isobel Hamilton. Both parents were Scottish and seem also to have been both Catholic. They had married in 1574.39, line 24
/> Several of his siblings died in their infancy or childhood. Six reached adulthood and are listed in his father's article. His mother died in March 1616.


Plantation

He and his brothers James, Claud, and
George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
were involved in
James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
's Plantations of Ireland. In March 1620, he was given the quarter of Carrowrosse in the Barony of Dromahair in northern
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
. Leitrim is in the Province of
Connaught Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...
but northern Leitrim lies along the border with Ulster. Over the next two decades he increased his estate to 18,000 acres (73 km2). All that land had been seized from the
O'Rourke O'Rourke ( ga, Ó Ruairc) is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Leitrim. The family were the historic rulers of Breifne and later West Breifne until the 17th century. The O'Rourke Clan Chieftain is at odds with ...
clan in the Plantation of Leitrim.


Marriage and children

On 20 May 1620 Frederick Hamilton married Sidney Vaughan. She was a rich heiress, the only child of Sir John Vaughan,
Governor of Londonderry The Governor of Londonderry and Culmore was a British military appointment. The Governor was the officer who commanded the garrison and fortifications of the city of Derry and of Culmore fort. The Governor was paid by The Honourable The Irish So ...
. Frederick and Sidney had three sons: #Frederick (died before 1646), was killed in action in Ireland #James of Manorhamilton (died 1652), married his cousin Catherine, daughter of Claud Hamilton, Lord Strabane # Gustavus (1642–1723), became the 1st
Viscount Boyne Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan. He had already been created Baron Hamilton of St ...
—and one daughter: #Christiana (married 1649), married Sir George Munro


Swedish service

In November 1631, he entered Swedish service. He must by that time have converted to Protestantism as a Catholic would not have been acceptable to the Swedes. He became colonel of a Scottish-Irish regiment that served in Germany for 15 months during the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
. They fought in General Tott's army on the
Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
, the
Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
and the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
. After spending a few years back in Leitrim, he unsuccessfully attempted to re-enter Swedish service in September 1637.


Ireland

About 1638 he built Manorhamilton Castle in northern Leitrim, around which grew the town of
Manorhamilton Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen. History Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the Ir ...
. Sir Frederick was involved in a lengthy legal dispute over the ownership of parcels of land in the County of Leitrim with Tirlagh Reynolds of
Kiltubbrid Kiltubrid or Kiltubbrid () is a civil parish in the barony of Leitrim, County Leitrim, Ireland. The villages of Keshcarrigan and Drumcong lie within the civil parish. History The name Kiltubrid derives from the Irish ''Cill Tiobraid'' meanin ...
. On 15 November 1633 an injunction was granted to give Tirlagh possession, but it was dissolved. On 13 June 1634 a second injunction in favour of Tirlagh was granted. A Chancery order of 19 December 1634 dissolved that second injunction. On 5 December 1640, the committee for Irish affairs of the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
heard four petitions from Sir Frederick in this respect. The
Down Survey The Down Survey was a cadastral survey of Ireland, carried out by English scientist, William Petty, in 1655 and 1656. The survey was apparently called the "Down Survey" by Petty, either because the results were set down in maps or because the s ...
shows Tirlagh Reynolds as owner of several parcels in southern Leitrim in 1641. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Manorhamilton Castle was besieged several times, but remained intact. In the ensuing Irish Confederate Wars he fought for the
Scottish Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
trying to keep the Confederates out of the north of Ireland. In 1643, after another unsuccessful attack upon the castle, he hanged 58 of his enemies from a scaffolding in front of the castle. On 1 July 1642, in retribution for cattle raids by the
O'Rourke O'Rourke ( ga, Ó Ruairc) is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Leitrim. The family were the historic rulers of Breifne and later West Breifne until the 17th century. The O'Rourke Clan Chieftain is at odds with ...
clan, he sacked the nearby town of Sligo, burning part of it, including Sligo Abbey, a Dominican friary. Local legend tells that on the way over the mountains back to Manorhamilton Castle, some of his men got lost in heavy fog. A guide on a white horse offered to lead them safely over the mountain, but intentionally led the men over a cliff and to their doom. This legend is the subject of a short story by
Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
, entitled The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows.


Scotland

The "Cessation" ceasefire of September 1643, negotiated by the Marquess of Ormond, was not recognised by the Covenanters, with whom he was allied. The war in Leitrim and Ulster therefore went on. However, after 1643 he left Ireland for Scotland where he became a colonel of a regiment of horse in the army of the Solemn League and Covenant, commanded by Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, fighting in Scotland and Northern England. In Ireland he still retained the command of his foot regiment in western Ulster where his sons Frederick and James probably stood in for him. However, his son Frederick was killed and on 5 June 1646 the Covenanter army under
Robert Monro Robert Monro (died 1680), was a famous Scottish General, from the Clan Munro of Ross-shire, Scotland. He held command in the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus during Thirty Years' War. He also fought for the Scottish Covenanters during the ...
lost the
Battle of Benburb The Battle of Benburb took place on 5 June 1646 during the Irish Confederate Wars, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought between the Irish Confederation under Owen Roe O'Neill, and a Scottish Covenanter and Anglo-I ...
against the Confederates under
Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish ...
, after which they retreated to
Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...
, abandoning Leitrim and southern Ulster to the Confederates.


Death, succession, and timeline

In 1647, Sir Frederick, aged 57, left the then disbanding army of the Solemn League and Covenant and retired to Edinburgh, where he died later that year in relative poverty. He had received very little compensation for his military efforts from the English parliament. He was succeeded by his son James, who had two daughters with whom Manorhamilton passed out of the family. In 1652 Manorhamilton Castle was burned by
Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde Ulick MacRichard Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, 5th Earl of Clanricarde, 2nd Earl of St Albans (; ; ; ; 1604, in London – July 1657, in Kent), was an Anglo-Irish nobleman who was involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Catholic Roy ...
, who had taken over as leader of the royalists from Ormond. The castle then fell into ruins.


Notes and references


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * – Ab-Adam to Basing * * * * * – (for timeline) * – Viscounts * – Town * – Abercorn to Balmerino * – Fife to Hyndford (for Hamilton) * * – 1641 to 1643


Further reading

* – (Preview) * * – Preview * – (Google Books, no Preview)


External links


Manorhamilton in The Irish AesthetePage about Sir Frederick Hamilton on the town's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Frederick 1590 births 1647 deaths Covenanters Scottish soldiers Younger sons of barons