William Hamilton KB PC FRS (1731 - 1803)

Ancestors

Husband of Emy (Lyon) Hamilton — married 6 Sep 1791 in St Marylebone parish church, London, England

Died 6 Apr 1803 at age 72 in London, England

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Biography

Sir William Hamilton was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Note that Emma was married to Sir William, but was mistress to at least two men before him and to Lord Horatio Nelson throughout the marriage. Her child was Nelson's and not her husband's.

Sir William Hamilton died in London on 6 April 1803, at his leased house at 23 Piccadilly, with Emma and Nelson at his side; he was buried beside Catherine at Slebech church on 19 April. In his will and codicil, last amended on 31 March 1803, he left the bulk of his estate to his nephew George Greville and bequeathed Emma £800 and a further annual allowance of £800; to Nelson he left the portrait of Emma by Elizabeth Vigée le Brun.

Sources

• Geoffrey V. Morson, ‘Hamilton, Sir William (1731–1803)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2014
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hamilton_%28diplomat%29
• Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review (London, January 1731)

• Page 28: Wednesday, Jan. 27, 1731: "His R.H. the D. of Cumberland, stood Godfather in person to the New-born Son and Heir of the Ld Archibald Hamilton."

• Johnston, George Harvey. "The Douglases of Angus." The Heraldry of the Douglases: With Notes on All the Males of the Family, Descriptions of the Arms, Plates and Pedigrees. Edinburgh: W. & A.K. Johnston, Limited, 1907.51. Print.

• The Letters of Horace Walpole: Page 345 Strawberry Hill Sept 11th 1791 "Apropos Sir William Hamilton has actually married his Gallery of Statues and they are set out on their return to Naples. I am sorry I did not see her attitudes, which Lady Di (a tolerable judge!) prefers to anything she ever saw"