Gustaf David ''Gilbert'' John William

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 ...

, (20 March 1869 – 11 August 1947) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

noble and highly decorated soldier, holding Swedish, Finnish and German military honours. He was personally appointed a

generalmajor is the Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and Royal Danish Air Force. As a two-star ...

in the Wehrmacht by Adolf Hitler.

Early career

Gilbert was born on 20 March 1869, in Hedensberg manor, Västmanland. He was the second son to Sir Malcom Hamilton and his wife,

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

ess Sophia Lovisa

Barnekow Barnekow is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...

. Gilberts father, Sir Malcom was a '' Fideicommissum'' to Hedensberg, a post that his older brother Hugo Hamilton would later take over following their father's death. Gilbert started off his military career in 1891 when he graduated from Karlberg with the rank of

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

. Gilbert tried to volunteer in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 but was denied. He also tried to, but was denied entry in to both the Second Boer war (1899) and later the Russo-Japanese War (1904). By the time of the start of the First world war, Hamilton was already a '' rittmeister'' (

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

) in the Swedish Army and at the time held command as Chief of the 2nd Squadron in the

Royal Life Guards The Life Guards (LG) is the senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry, along with the Blues and Royals. History The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards (exclusively formed of gentlemen-troopers un ...

situated in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

World War I

On 27 October 1914, Hamilton took

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

and left for Germany. Whence there he joined the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

and went into Prussian service with the rank of

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. He served on the eastern front and partook in, among others, the famous Battle at Tannenberg which was a total German victory. He served as a cavalry officer and later as Squadron leader on the Austro-Hungarians

Carpathian Front The Carpathian operation of 1915 was one of the largest military operations on the Eastern Front at 1915 in terms of scale, duration, the number of troops involved in it and the losses of the parties. Background Having repulsed the countero ...

. Between the years 1915–18 he was chief over the 22nd reserve jaeger battalion which, at the time was stationed between Belarus and Ukraine directly north of the city of Pinsk. In 1918 he partook in the Finnish civil war as part of the much larger conflict, the Russian civil war, fighting for the whites against the reds. He did this as Commander of the Squadron "Hamilton" under the Brandenstein brigade as part of German Expeditionary corps '' Die Ostseedivision''. In June 1918 he was made Chief of the 3rd Cuirassier regiment "Graf Wrangel" in southern ukraine. When the

Kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...

abdicated Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

and went into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

in holland, and revolution had broken out across Germany. So at Christmas 1918, he was forced to make a 100 mile long march, comparable to those which the

Caroleans Caroleans ( sv, karoliner), from ''Carolus'', the Latin form of the name Charles, is a term used to describe soldiers of the Military of the Swedish Empire, Swedish army during the reigns of Kings Charles XI of Sweden, Charles XI and Charles XI ...

undertook 200 years earlier. They made their journey via

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

all the way back to Königsberg, during which they were constantly attacked in

skirmishes Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

. On February 20, 1919, they finally arrived in Königsberg and were received with cheers and a hero's welcome by the populace of the city.

Later life

After his return to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1920, he was given command of the Småland hussars in Eksjö in 1921. Besides his military career he served as an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn for several weeks each year. On the 25th year anniversary, of the German Victory at Tannenberg, during a ceremony on the 25th of August, 1939, Adolf Hitler personally appointed him as an honorary general of the reserve, with the rank of

Generalmajor is the Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and Royal Danish Air Force. As a two-star ...

in the Wehrmacht. He remained fond and supportive of Germany until his death in 1947.

Gallery

File:Hamil fältuniform.png, Count

in field uniform for his own regiment. File:Hamil galauniform.png, Count

in a Prussian parade dress uniform. File:Vapenrock m1915.png, Uniform M/1915 for the 3rd Cuirassier regiment "Graf Wrangel" File:Vapenrock m1910.png, Uniform M/1910 for the 1st Cuirassier regiment "Grosser Kurfürst" File:Hamilton coat of arms.jpg, Coat of Arms of the House Hamilton. File:Heinrich Knirr – „Führerbildnis“ (1937).jpg, Painting of Adolf Hitler as he looked during the ceremony in 1939. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 136-C0804, Kaiser Wilhelm II. im Exil.jpg,

Wilhelm II in exile at Doorn.

Honours and awards

National

Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Sword, 16 June 1928.Kungl. Svärdsorden.
i '' Sveriges statskalender'' 1947bih * Graduate of the Military Academy Karlberg, 1891. * Graduate of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, – (Honorary), 1931.

Foreign

D-PRU Royal Hohenzollern Order swords war-ribbon BAR

Commander of the Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern, with swords, latest 1921.Livgardet tillhäst.
i '' Sveriges statskalender'' 1921Smålands husarregemente.
i '' Sveriges statskalender'' 1925 * D-PRU EK 1914 2 Klasse BAR

Recipient of the Prussian Iron Cross 1st Class 1916. * D-PRU EK 1914 2 Klasse BAR

Recipient of the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd Class 1915. * FIN Order of the Cross of Liberty 2Class war BAR

Knight of the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty 2nd Class, with swords, latest 1921. * FIN Liberation War 1918 Comm Medal BAR

Recipient of the Medal of the Liberation War, 1918. * AUT KuK Kriegsbande schwertern-gold BAR

Recipient of the Austrian Military Merit Cross, with war decoration, latest 1925. * Legion Honneur Chevalier ribbon

Knight of the French Legion of Honour, latest 1921. * Order of Orange-Nassau ribbon - Knight

Knight of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau, latest 1921. * Ribbon bar of the Chinese Order of the Double Dragon

Knight Third Class, Third Grade of the Qing Order of the Double Dragon, latest 1921. * Order of Saint Anna ribbon bar

Knight of the Russian Order of St. Anna 3rd Class, latest 1921.

Military ranks

Count Gilbert in popular culture

*The popular brand of Swedish

pipe tobacco A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl (smoking), bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can rang ...

, manufactured since 1924 in Denmark by

Swedish Match Swedish Match AB is a Swedish multinational tobacco company headquartered in Stockholm. The company manufactures snus, nicotine pouches, moist snuff, tobacco- and nicotine-free pouch products, chewing tobacco, chew bags, tobacco bits, cigars, ...

called "Greve Gilbert Hamiltons Blandning" is named after him.

References

*"Svenskar i Krig 1914-1945", Gyllenhaal, L., Westberg, L. (2004) *

List of Imperial German infantry regiments This is a list of Imperial German infantry regiments before and during World War I. In peacetime, the Imperial German Army included 217 regiments of infantry (plus the instruction unit, ''Lehr'' Infantry Battalion). Some of these regiments had a ...

* List of Imperial German cavalry regiments {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Gilbert Swedish nobility Swedish people of Scottish descent 1869 births Commanders First Class of the Order of the Sword Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 2nd Class People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Recipients of the Order of St. Anna 1947 deaths Swedish Army officers German Army personnel of World War I Major generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht) People from Västmanland County