Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon TD, DL (6 March 1862 – 16 March 1940) was a Scottish nobleman and

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

Early life

Hamilton was born at

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, in 1862, the son of Captain Charles Douglas-Hamilton (1808–1873). His grandfather, Augustus Hamilton, was a son of Charles Powell Hamilton, himself a grandson of

James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon (11 April 1658 – 15 November 1712) was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician. Hamilton was a major investor in the failed Darien Scheme, which cost many o ...

. As a young man, Hamilton was commissioned into the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, and held the rank of lieutenant. He gained the reputation for being able to dive under the keels of the battleships on which he served, without any equipment, reappearing on the opposite side of the ship to the amazement of his crewmates. In 1888, his fourth cousin,

William Douglas-Hamilton, 12th 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 Eng ...

, persuaded him to leave the navy. By then, he was the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

of the Duke, who had no son.

Inheritance

There was a serious possibility that Alfred Hamilton would provide a good match for the twelfth duke's daughter, Lady Mary, but such hopes were dashed in 1890, when Hamilton was partially paralysed by a rare tropical disease he had caught while overseas on his last tour of duty. Hamilton recovered and succeeded to the dukedom in 1895. While the new duke inherited all

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...

ed property and assets from his cousin, as well as a £1 million debt secured on them, most of the unentailed Hamilton estates went to Lady Mary, who in 1906 married James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose. The properties that left the Hamilton family at this time included Brodick Castle on Arran, which had been owned by the Hamiltons for 500 years. One property that did not leave the family was

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.family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families ...

. The new Duke was also heredity keeper of the Scottish Royal Household. However, the Duke offered the palace to the Royal Navy during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

for use as a hospital. Following the end of the war it was considered necessary to demolish, it due to subsidence, blamed on the family's own coal mines. Hamilton lived instead at

Dungavel House Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention facility in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the town of Strathaven that is also known as Dungavel Castle or Dungavel House. It is operated by the American private prison firm GEO ...

, which had previously been a Hamilton shooting lodge on moorland close to

Strathaven Strathaven (; from gd, Strath Aibhne ) is a historic market town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland and is the largest settlement in Avondale. It is south of Hamilton. The Powmillon Burn runs through the town centre, and joins the Avon Water to the ...

. Hamilton was honorary

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

of the 4th Battalion,

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fus ...

. He was also honorary

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the 6th Battalion, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Hamilton died shortly after his 78th birthday, on 16 March 1940 at the family's property in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, Ferne House.

Marriage and issue

On 4 December 1901, at the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Newton Tony Newton Tony (formerly Newton Toney) is a rural English village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, close to the border with Hampshire. Situated in the Bourne Valley, Newton Tony is about north-east of its post town, Salisbury. Wilbury ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, Hamilton married Nina Mary Benita Poore, a daughter of Major Robert Poore. She was the founder of the

Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by the animal rights advocates Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish-British feminist, and the English peeress Nina Do ...

. They had four sons and three daughters: *

Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton Air Commodore Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon, (3 February 1903 – 30 March 1973) was a Scottish nobleman and aviator who was the first man to fly over Mount Everest. When German Deputy Führer Rudol ...

* Lady Jean Douglas-Hamilton *

George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk Group Captain George Nigel "Geordie" Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, (4 January 1906 – 24 November 1994) was a British nobleman and Conservative politician. Early life Born at Merly, Wimborne, Dorset, he was the second son of Nina ...

* Lady Margaret Douglas-Hamilton (the mother of Anneli Drummond-Hay) * Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton * Lord David Douglas-Hamilton *

Lady Mairi Nina Douglas-Hamilton The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

Hamilton's sons made

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

history by all being of the rank of

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

or above at the outbreak of World War II.

References

Works cited

* *
Hamilton Palace: the Hamilton family
at www.rcahms.gov.uk * '' Burke's Peerage and Baronetage''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke Of 1862 births 1940 deaths Deputy Lieutenants of Lanarkshire 113 110 10 Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton People from Shanklin