Robert Montgomery Hamilton, 8th Lord Belhaven and Stenton,
KT (1793 – 22 December 1868) was a
Scottish peer and politician.
Background
Born at
Wishaw House
Wishaw House was a large mansion located in Wishaw, Scotland. Once the family seat of the Belhavens and Hamilton family, the mansion was abandoned by the 20th century and was demolished, now nothing more than a ruin in the woodland by the Sou ...
, he was the son of
William Hamilton, 7th Lord Belhaven and Stenton, and Penelope Macdonald, youngest daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Clanranald.
In 1814 he succeeded his father in the
Lordship of Belhaven and Stenton.
Career
Hamilton sat on the
Whig benches in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
as a
Scottish Representative Peer
This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the Parliament of Scotland, where, as a unicameral legislature, all Scottish P ...
between 1819 and 1832. The latter year he was created Baron Hamilton of Wishaw, in the County of Lanark, in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom. This title gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. Hamilton also served as
High Commissioner to the General Assembly and Kirk from 1831 to 1841, from 1847 to 1851, again from 1853 to 1857 and a last time from 1860 to 1866. Having been previously the county's vice-lord-lieutenant, he was appointed
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 ...
in 1863, an office he held until his death five years later. In 1861, Hamilton was invested as a
Knight of the Thistle
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
. He is recorded as President of the
Wodrow Society
The Wodrow Society, established in Edinburgh in 1841, was a society 'for the publication of the works of the fathers and early writers of the Reformed Church of Scotland'.
The society, established in May 1841, was named after Robert Wodrow, the h ...
in 1845.
[Oliver & Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanack, 1845, page 422.]
Family
He married Hamilton Campbell, daughter of Walter Frederick Campbell and Mary Nisbet, in 1815;
[ they had no children. Hamilton died on 22 December 1868, aged 75 and was buried in ]Cambusnethan
Cambusnethan is a large village and suburb on the eastern edge of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire in Scotland. It is approximately long, straddling both sides of the A722 on a hill overlooking Wishaw.
Etymology
The name "''Cambusnethan"'' was his ...
Kirkyard, where his large mausoleum still stands, although the kirk no longer exists. The kirkyard is located close to Wishaw
Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it form ...
, by the River Clyde. On his death, the barony of Hamilton of Wishaw became extinct while the lordship of Belhaven and Stenton became dormant.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belhaven and Stenton, 8th Lord Hamilton, Robert
1793 births
1868 deaths
Knights of the Thistle
Lords of Parliament
Lord-Lieutenants of Lanarkshire
Lords High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peers of the United Kingdom created by William IV