John Hamilton (1651 or 1552 – 1691), was an Irish army officer of Scottish and Irish origin, who fought in the Williamite war in Ireland on the side of the deposed James II. He died from wounds received at the Battle of Aughrim.
Birth and origins
John Hamilton was probably born in 1651 or 1552 in Caen, France, the sixth and youngest son of George Hamilton and his wife, Mary Butler. His family had fled Ireland early that year during the Cromwellian conquest.
His father was Scottish, the fourth son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, a faithful supporter of James Butler, Marquess of Ormond and lord lieutenant of Ireland, during the Irish Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and a would-be baronet.
John's mother was Irish, the third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (courtesy title), who predeceased his father, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and therefore never succeeded to the earldom. She also was a sister of James Butler, marquess of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Her family, the Butlers, were Old English.
Hamilton's parents had married in 1635, despite earlier dates reported in error due to his father being often mistaken for his homonymous granduncle. John was one of nine siblings. See James, George, Elizabeth, Anthony, and Richard. John's parents were both Catholic, and so was he.
French childhood
His father had been receiver general for James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormond the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Ormond left Ireland for France in December 1650. Hamilton's father wanted to leave with him but was accused of fraud by the clerical faction. Found innocent, Hamilton's father, accompanied by his family, left Ireland in spring 1651. They went to Caen, Normandy, where they were accommodated for some time by his mother's sister Elizabeth Preston, the Marchioness of Ormond. That is where John was probably born. Lady Ormond with her children left for England in August 1652, whereas John's mother moved to Paris where she lived in the .
Restoration
The Restoration in May 1660 brought Charles II on the English throne. Hamilton's father and his elder brothers moved to the court at Whitehall. Charles II restored Donalong, Ulster, to Hamilton's father. About that year Charles allegedly created Hamilton's father baronet of Donalong and Nenagh, but the king if he really went that far, refused to go further because the family was Catholic.
John's elder brothers, James and George, became courtiers at Whitehall. Early in 1661 their father also brought his wife and his younger children to London, where they lived for some time all together in a house near Whitehall.
James II
Hamilton became an officer in James II's Royal Irish Army, as did his older brothers Anthony and Richard. This seems to have been Hamilton's first military employment as he seems to have never joined his brothers at Hamilton's regiment in France. However Walter Scott believed that he served in France with his brothers.
He stayed loyal to James at the 1688 Glorious Revolution. He seems to have gone into French exile with the King. He took all the officers and soldiers with him from Saint-Germain and landed with James II at Kinsale on 12 March 1689, having sailed on the ship-of-the-line Entreprenant. By June 1690 he was ranked brigadier, and was listed as one of the "directors" left in Ireland by Tyrconnell when the latter travelled to France following the defeat at the Boyne.
Marriage and daughter
In 1690, Hamilton married Elizabeth Macan (or, likely, McCann) of the family of the ancient Irish Lords of Clanbrassil, different from the viscounts and earls of Clanbrassill, who were Hamiltons from Scotland.
John and Elizabeth had a daughter: Margaret, who married a Comte de Marmier in France.
Limerick
In 1690 Hamilton fought in the successful defence of Limerick. This was the first siege of the town during this war in which William had to concede defeat after a costly failed attack and when the winter approached early.
Aughrim, death, and timeline
During the campaign of 1691 in Ireland, Hamilton was involved in the Siege of Athlone, where he attempted to retake the city with two infantry brigades but failed.
On 12 July 1691 at the Battle of Aughrim, he commanded the second line of infantry. Seriously wounded, he was taken prisoner late in the day and died in Dublin shortly afterwards. His wife and daughter went to James II's court in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.