James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil (23 August 1730 – 6 February 1798), was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

peer, styled Viscount Limerick from 1756 to 1758.

Biography

Lord Clanbrassil was the son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil, and Lady Harriet Bentinck. The Hamilton dynasty were an Ulster-Scots family by origin. He sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

as the Member of Parliament for

Midleton Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satelli ...

between 1755 and 1758, and served as High Sheriff of Louth in 1757. On 17 March 1758, he succeeded to his father's titles and became Earl of Clanbrassil. As his title was in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, he was not barred from election to the

House of Commons of Great Britain The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the Pa ...

. As such, he served as the MP for Helston from 1768 to 1774. On 4 July 1766 he was made a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

and was '' Custos Rotulorum'' of County Louth between 1769 and 1798. On 5 February 1783 he was made a Knight of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

and on 11 March that year he was appointed a Knight Founder of the

Order of St Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, ...

. He married The Hon. Grace Foley, daughter of The 1st Baron Foley and The Hon. Grace Granville, on 21 May 1774 at Oxford Chapel,

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

. He died without issue in 1798 and his titles became extinct.''The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: The peerage of Ireland'' (W. Owen nd 2 others 1790), 89–90. His name survives in that of Clanbrassil Street,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clanbrassil, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of 1730 births 1798 deaths British MPs 1768–1774 Earls in the Peerage of Ireland Knights of St Patrick High sheriffs of County Louth Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Limerick, James Hamilton, Viscount Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Knights of the Garter Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies