Thomas Hamilton (17897 December 1842)
was a Scottish soldier and author.
Life
He was born in
Pisa,
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
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, demogra ...
, the second son of
William Hamilton (1758–1790), professor of anatomy and botany at
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. He was the younger brother of metaphysician
Sir William Hamilton (1788–1856). Their father died a few months after Thomas was born.
After preliminary education at Glasgow, he was placed in 1801 as a pupil with the Rev. Dr. Home, in
Chiswick, England, and some months later with the Rev. Dr. Scott,
Hounslow
Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...
, also in England. For several months in 1803, he was with Dr. Sommers at
Mid Calder
Mid Calder ( sco, Mid Calder; gd, Caladar Mheadhain) is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. It is located on a steep hill overlooking the River Almond and Calder Wood, around west of Edinburgh. The settlement has been on a major crossroads s ...
,
Midlothian, preparatory to entering
Glasgow University
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
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, where he matriculated the following November. He studied there for three years, proving himself an able if not very diligent student. His close college companion, of whom he saw little in later life, was
Michael Scott, the author of ''Tom Cringle's Log''.
Hamilton's bias was towards the army, and in 1810, after fully showing his incapacity for business in Glasgow and Liverpool, he got a commission in the 29th regiment. Twice on active service in the
Peninsula, he received a serious wound in the thigh from a musket bullet at the
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about south ...
. He was also in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
and
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
with his regiment, which at length was sent to France as part of the army of occupation.
About 1818, Hamilton retired, as a captain, on half-pay, fixing his headquarters at Edinburgh. He became a valued member of the ''
Blackwood's Magazine
''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...
'' writers. He was specially complimented in the song of personalities in the ''
Noctes Ambrosianae'' for February 1826 (Noctes, i. 89).
James Hogg
James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...
in his ''Autobiography'' credits him with a considerable share in some of the "ploys" led by
John Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...
.
Hamilton married in 1820, and for several summers he and his wife lived at Lockhart's cottage of Chiefs wood, near
Abbotsford House
Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825 ...
, Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
finding them very congenial neighbours and friends. In 1829, Captain and Mrs. Hamilton went to Italy, and at the end of the year Mrs. Hamilton died and was buried at Florence.
![Wilson's house, Elleray painted by Alexander Nasmyth 1808](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Wilson%27s_house%2C_Elleray_painted_by_Alexander_Nasmyth_1808.JPG)
Some time after his return, Hamilton visited America, bringing back materials for a book on the Americans. Marrying a second time, the widow of Sir
Robert Townsend Farquhar, bart., governor of the Mauritius, he settled at
John Wilson's former house, Elleray, and saw much of
Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's '' ...
, whom he was one of the first Scotsmen to appreciate. Visiting the continent with his wife, Hamilton was seized with paralysis at
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
, and he died at Pisa of a second attack 7 December 1842. He was buried at Florence beside his first wife.
Works
Hamilton's novel ''Cyril Thornton'' appeared in 1827. It is partly autobiographical, with Hamilton's early impressions of Scottish university life and Glasgow citizens when he could call
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
"a pretty and rural village", and his military experiences. The book went through three editions in the author's lifetime, and was one of ''Blackwood's Standard Novels''.
In 1829, Hamilton published ''Annals of the Peninsular Campaign''. His ''Men and Manners in America'' appeared in 1833.
Craig Lamont has placed Thomas Hamilton within a "Glasgow School" of early nineteenth century Scottish novelists, along with
John Galt
John Galt () is a character in Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover ...
and
Michael Scott.
[Lamont, Craig. "Finding Galt in Glasgow", in Gerard Carruthers & Colin Kidd (eds.). ''The International Companion to John Galt'', Scottish Literature International, 2017, pp. 34–43.]
References
Attribution:
Further reading
* Hamilton, Thomas (1833)
''Men and Manners in America'' Blackwood (reissued by
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pre ...
, 2009; )
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Thomas
1789 births
1842 deaths
19th-century Scottish people
19th-century Scottish writers
People from Pisa
Alumni of the University of Glasgow
29th Regiment of Foot officers
British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Scottish soldiers
British military writers
Scottish travel writers
Scottish expatriates in Italy
19th-century Scottish poets
Scottish novelists
Scottish male poets