George Hamilton, 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane

George Hamilton, 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane (died 1668) was the younger son of Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane. He succeeded to the title in 1655 when his brother drowned while bathing in the River Mourne. After the Restoration, he obtained the return of the family lands around Strabane, which had been confiscated by the Parliamentarians in 1650.

George Hamilton
Baron Hamilton of Strabane
Reign	1655–1668
Predecessor	James, 3rd Baron H. of Strabane
Successor	Claud, 4th Earl of Abercorn
Died	14 April 1668
Family	House of Hamilton
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Fagan
Detail Issue Claud, Charles, & others
Father	Claud, 2nd Baron H. of Strabane
Mother	Jean Gordon

Birth and origins

George was born in 1636 or 1637,[1] probably at Strabane Castle. He was the younger son of Claude Hamilton and his wife Jean Gordon. His father was the 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane and a member of the Strabane cadet branch of the Abercorns. The lords of Strabane owned much land around Strabane and Baronscourt in County Tyrone. George's mother was the fourth daughter of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly in Scotland. His parents were both Catholic. They married in 1632.[2]

Family tree

George Hamilton with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. James 1st Earl 1575–1618 Marion Boyd d. 1632 Recusant James 2nd Earl d. 1670 Claud 2nd Baron d. 1638 Jean Gordon Phelim O'Neill d. 1653 George 1st Bt. Donalong d. 1679 George 3rd Earl c. 1636 – bef. 1683 James 3rd Baron 1633–1655 George 4th Baron 1636/7 – 1668 Elizabeth Fagan Gordon O'Neill James c. 1630– 1673 Claud 4th Earl 1659–1691 Charles 5th Earl d. 1701 James 6th Earl c. 1661 – 1734 Elizabeth Reading d. 1754 James 7th Earl 1686–1744 Legend XXX George Hamilton XXX Earls of Abercorn XXX Barons H. of Strabane XXX O'Neills This family tree is partly derived from the Abercorn pedigree pictured in Cokayne.[3] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

George appears at the bottom of the list of siblings below as the youngest:

1. Catherine (died 1670/1), married James Hamilton of Manorhamilton, brother of Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne;[4][5]
2. Cecilia, married Richard Perkins of Lifford;[6]
3. James (1633 – 1655), became the 3rd Baron Hamilton of Strabane;[7] and
4. George (1636 or 1637 – 1668).

Father's death

In 1638, while George was still an infant, his father died and was buried in the church of Leckpatrick near Strabane.[8] His older brother James succeeded as the 3rd Baron Hamilton of Strabane as a young child. His mother ran the family estate and they continued to live in the Castle of Strabane.

Irish wars

In 1641, when George was about four years old, the Irish Rebellion broke out. The rebel leader Phelim O'Neill captured and burned Strabane Castle and took him, together with his mother and siblings, as prisoners to Kinard, his usual place of residence.[9] Phelim released his prisoners after some days and sent them to Sir George Hamilton, one of George's uncles.[10]

In 1649, when George was about 12, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Strabane Castle was attacked again, this time by Robert Monro and his Covenanter army. The castle was relieved by Phelim O'Neill, its previous attacker.[11] Phelim married George's mother in November.[12] Phelim became his stepfather and his half-brother Gordon O'Neill was born in due course.

In 1649 Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland with the Parliamentarian forces. In July 1650, in the Siege of Charlemont, his brother and his stepfather defended Charlemont Fort with remnants of the Confederate Ulster army against a Parliamentarian army under Charles Coote. Having resisted several attacks, the fort finally surrendered to Coote on terms in August and the garrison was allowed to march away. In July 1650, the family's lands were confiscated by the Parliamentarians.[13] In 1652 Phelim O'Neill was captured. He was tried and convicted for treason in October and executed.[14]

Brother's succession

In June 1655 his brother, James, drowned in the River Mourne at Ballyfathen, aged about 22.[15][16] His brother had never married and George succeeded him as the 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane. He is usually called Lord Strabane rather than Lord Hamilton to avoid the confusion with the Lords Hamilton of the senior, Scottish, branch of the family.

Marriage and children

George married in or before 1659 Elizabeth Fagan, daughter of Christopher Fagan of Feltrim, County Dublin, and of Anne, daughter of Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip Castle.[17] Christopher Fagan had lost his estates during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland but would get them back them back in 1663 as an "innocent papist" in the terms of the Act of Settlement 1662.[18] Elizabeth would eventually turn out to be a rich heiress, the only surviving child after the deaths of her two brothers.[19]

George and Elizabeth had four children:[20]

1. Claud (1659–1691), succeeded him as the 4th Earl of Abercorn;[20]
2. Anne (died 1680), married John Browne of the Neale;[21]
3. Charles (died 1701), became the 5th Earl of Abercorn;[20] and
4. Mary (born 1668 or 1669), born after her father's death and would marry as his second wife Garrett Dillon, Recorder of Dublin.[22]

Restoration

After the Restoration (1660), Lord Strabane, as he was now, obtained the return of most of the family lands, which had been confiscated in 1650 by the Parliamentarians. Although his brother James had fought with Phelim O'Neill's Confederates rather than with the royalists, his brother had fought against the Parliamentarians, not against the royalists and, Lord Strabane, being born about 1636, was too young to have been involved in the atrocities of 1641. His brother's lands were therefore restored to him as an "innocent papist" on 16 May 1663.[23]

Death, succession, and timeline

He died on 14 April 1668 at Kenure House, Rush, Dublin, and was buried at nearby St. Mechlin's Church.[24][25] He was succeeded by his eldest son Claud as 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane, who would in about 1680 become the 4th Earl of Abercorn.

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1636 or 1637	Born,[1] probably at Strabane Castle.
1	1638, 14 Jun	Father died.[8]
4	1641	His home, Strabane Castle, burned by Phelim O'Neill.[9]
12	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[26]
12	1649	His home, Strabane Castle, attacked by Robert Monro relieved by Phelim.[11]
12	1649, Nov	His mother married Phelim O'Neill.[12]
13	1650	The estates were confiscated by the Parliamentarians.[13]
16	1653, 10 Mar	His stepfather executed.[14]
18	1655, 16 Jun	Succeeded his drowned brother[15] as the 4th Lord Strabane.
22	1659, in or before	Married Elizabeth Fagan.[19]
23	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II.[27]
23	1663, 16 May	Obtained return of the estates at Strabane.[23]
31	1668, 14 Apr	Died at Kenure House, Rush, Dublin.[24]

Notes

1. Cokayne 1953, p. 320a: "GEORGE (HAMILTON), LORD HAMILTON, BARON OF STRABANE [I.], only br. and h., was b. between 14 Feb. 1835/6 and 1 Dec. 1637."
2. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 8: "He married, 28 November 1632, Lady Jean Gordon, fourth daughter of George, first Marquess of Huntly, by Lady Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Esme, first Duke of Lennox;"
3. Cokayne 1910, p. 4: "Tabular pedigree of the Earls of Abercorn"
4. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 18: "Catherine, married first, in 1647, to her cousin ..."
5. Burke 1869, p. 2, right column, line 65: "... two daus. Catherine, m. 1st to James Hamilton Esq. ..."
6. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 24: "Cecilia, married to Richard Perkins ..."
7. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 26: "JAMES, 3rd Lord Strabane, born in 1633, succeeded his father 1638, being then 5 years old ; joined Sir Phelim O'Neile against the parliamentary forces in July 1650 ..."
8. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 7: "Dying 14 June 1638, he [Claude Hamilton] was buried in the church of Leckpatrick, County Tyrone."
9. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 12: "[Jean] who was taken prisoner by Sir Phelim O'Neile, in the rebellion of 1641, when he burned and destroyed the castle of Strabane, but whom she afterwards married ..."
10. Graham 1841, p. 277: "He [Phelim] carried the unfortunate lady to his castle at Kinnaird, where he kept her two or three days, and then sent her to Sir George Hamilton ..."
11. Webb 1878, p. 417, line 51: "He [Phelim] had just before relieved her castle of Strabane, attacked by Monro."
12. Webb 1878, p. 417, line 48: "In November 1649 he [Phelim] married Lady Jane Gordon a daughter of the Marquis of Huntly and the widow of Lord Strabane."
13. Cokayne 1896, p. 260, line 3: "He [James] incurred forfeiture of his lands by joining the Irish under Sir Phelim O'Neill ... 20 July 1650, at Charlemont ..."
14. Webb 1878, p. 417: "He was tried and convicted in October, and was executed with all the barbarities then inflicted on persons adjudged guilty of high treason."
15. Cokayne 1896, p. 260, line 5: "He died s.p. 16 June 1655 (a recusant) being drowned while bathing in the River Maine at Ballyfatty near Strabane."
16. Paul 1904, p. 50, line 28: "... and died, without issue, a Roman Catholic recusant at Ballyfatten, near Strabane, 16 June 1655, being drowned bathing in the River Mourne ..."
17. Paul 1904, p. 51, line 8: "He married Elizabeth, daughter, and ultimately sole heiress, of Christopher Fagan of Feltrim in the county of Dublin, by Anne, daughter of Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip, in the county of Klidare ..."
18. Lodge 1789, p. 115, note: "In the court of claims for executing the act of settlement, the said Christopher Fagan claimed his estate and by the decree of that court 20 March 1663 was adjudged an inncocent papist ..."
19. Cokayne 1896, p. 260, line 10: "He m. in or before 1659 Elizabeth, only da. and on the death of her two brothers (Richard and Peter) h. of Cristopher FAGAN, of Feltrim, co. Dublin."
20. Lodge 1789, p. 116, line 17: "His [George Hamilton] issue were two sons and two daughters, Claude and Charles successive earls of Abercorn;"
21. Lodge 1789, p. 116, line 18: "Anne, married to John, son of George Browne of the Neale in the co. of Mayo, Esq. and died 14 Aug. 1680."
22. Paul 1904, p. 51, line 19: "Mary, born after her father's death, married to Gerald Dillon, Recorder of Dublin ..."
23. Cokayne 1953, p. 320b: "His brother's forfeited lands were restored to him as an 'innocent papist', 16 May 1663."
24. Paul 1904, p. 50: "George, 4th Lord Strabane, who, dying 14 April 1668 at his house at Kenure, County Dublin, was buried in St. Mechlin's Church, near Rush in that county ...
25. Brewer 1829, p. 258: "In the immediate vicinity of Rush is the ruined Church of St. Mechlin, in which is a large tomb, adorned with the coat-armour of the deceased, and bearing an inscription to the memory of George, fourth baron of Strabane, who died on the 14th of April 1668."
26. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
27. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."

References

• Brewer, James Norris (1829), A History of Leinster: Embracing the beauties of Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Kilkenny &c. &c., London: J. S. Taylor & Co.
• Burke, Bernard (1869), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (31st ed.), London: Harrison
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1896), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 7 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – S to T (for Hamilton of Strabane)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 1 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Abercorn)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1953), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 12/1 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – (Snippet view, for Strabane)
• Graham, Rev. John (1841), Ireland Preserved; or The Siege of Londonderry and The Battle of Aughrim with Lyrical Poetry and Biographical Notes, Dublin: Hardy & Walker, p. 277
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 5, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts
• Paul, Sir James Balfour (1904), The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1, Edinburgh: David Douglas – Abercorn to Balmerino
• Seaward, Paul (2004), "Charles II", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 11, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 122–145, ISBN 0-19-861361-X (for Restoration)
• Webb, Alfred (1878), "O'Neill, Sir Felim", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, pp. 416–418