Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong

George was born about 1608 in Scotland,[4] probably in Paisley, Renfrewshire, near Glasgow. He was the fourth son of James Hamilton and his wife, Marion Boyd.[5] His father had been created Earl of Abercorn by James VI and I in 1606. His paternal grandfather was the 1st Lord Paisley.

George's mother was the eldest daughter of the 6th Lord Boyd, of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in the south-west of Scotland. Both grandfathers fought in 1568 at Langside for Mary, Queen of Scots.[6]

George was one of nine siblings[7] who are listed in his father's article.

George's father had been a Protestant, but his mother, Marion Boyd, was a recusant, who brought him, like all his siblings, up in the Catholic faith.[8] His uncle, Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea, pushed in the same direction.[9]

Anthony's father and Anthony's granduncle George share the same name and so do their wifes, who are both called Mary Butler.[10] The younger was his mother, whereas the elder was a daughter of Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond. The younger couple lived at Nenagh, the elder at Roscrea.[10] Carte (1736) already confused them.[11][12]

George was about 11 in 1618 when his father, the 1st Earl of Abercorn, died.[13] His father had been an undertaker in James VI and I's 1611 Plantation of Ulster and had as such acquired large estates in Ireland, mainly around Strabane, County Tyrone. George's eldest brother, James, succeeded to his father's title of Earl of Abercorn, but the Irish lands were shared among the younger sons according to his father's will. Strabane, the most prestigious part, went to George's elder brother Claud. George inherited Donalong, a great proportion (2000 acres).[14] His father had predeceased his paternal grandfather, the 1st Lord Paisley, who died three years later in 1621.[15] George's eldest brother James, the 2nd Earl of Abercorn, inherited at that time the title of Lord Paisley and the family's Scottish lands.

Some time after 1625 Hamilton, together with Sir Basil Brooke and Sir George Russell, acquired rights to the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine at Knockanroe in the Silvermine Mountains at the village of Silvermines, south of Nenagh.[16]

In 1627 Hamilton succeeded Sir Roger Hope to the command of a company of foot in the Irish Army.[17][lower-alpha 2]

In 1635 Hamilton married Mary Butler, third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles.[21][22][23] Her eldest brother, James, later the 1st Duke of Ormond, thereby became his brother-in-law.

George and Mary had six sons:

1. James (died 1673), became ranger of Hyde Park and lost a leg in a sea-fight[24]
2. George (died 1676), killed in French service at the Col de Saverne[25]
3. Anthony (c. 1645 – 1719), fought for the Jacobites and wrote the Mémoires du comte de Grammont[26]
4. Thomas (died 1687), served in the Royal Navy and died in Boston, Massachusetts[27][28][29]
5. Richard (died 1717),[30] fought for the Jacobites and was taken prisoner at the Boyne[31]
6. John (died 1691), Colonel in the Irish army, was killed in the Battle of Aughrim[32]

—and three daughters:

1. Elizabeth (1641–1708),[33] a famous beauty, married Philibert de Gramont[34]
2. Lucia (died 1676), married Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet, of Leamaneh Castle, a Protestant, in 1674[35]
3. Margaret, married in July 1674 Mathew Forde of Seaforde, County Down, and Coolgreany, County Wexford[36]

In 1632 Hamilton's mother died in Edinburgh and was buried with her husband in Paisley Abbey.[37]

By 1634 Hamilton was commonly called Sir George and was supposed to be a baronet, but the title was considered invalid as he would later be created a baronet for a second time. The territorial designation and the baronetage (country) of this first baronetcy are unknown.[38]

His elder brother Claude, 2nd baron Strabane, died in his thirties in 1638 and left a widow, Jean Gordon.[39]

In 1640, Ormond, Hamilton's brother-in-law granted him the manor, castle, town, and lands of Nenagh for 31 years.[40] Ormond also became his boss in the army when he was appointed lieutenant-general (commander-in-chief) of the Irish army in September 1640.[41]

In 1641, at the beginning of the Irish Rebellion, Hamilton was, during a visit to England, suspected of supporting the rebellion as he was Catholic. He was arrested and shortly held at the Tower of London but was soon released on bail.[42] Jean Gordon, his sister-in-law, lost her home when Phelim O'Neill burned Strabane Castle in December 1641. Hamilton housed her and her children at Nenagh.[43][44]

On 2 February 1642 the Knockaunderrig Silver Mine, which Hamilton operated together with Sir Basil Brooks and Sir William Russell, was attacked by local rebels under the leadership of Hugh O'Kennedy and his English miners were killed.[45]

On 5 June 1646 the Confederate Ulster army under Owen Roe O'Neill defeated the Covenanters under Robert Monro.[46] O'Neill then marched south to Kilkenny as directed by Rinuccini, the papal nuncio.[47][48] Leinster and Munster was treated as enemy territory. On 17 September 1646, O'Neill took Roscrea, but Nenagh was not attacked at that time. O'Neill then menaced Dublin in November 1646.

It seems that Sir George had been with the King in England. In January 1647 he returned to Dublin with a message instructing Ormond to hand Dublin over to the English rather than to the Irish.[49] Ormond abandoned Dublin in July to the parliamentarians and left for England.[50]

Phelim MacTuoll O'Neill took Nenagh in 1648,[51] but it was retaken by Inchiquin in the same year by undermining the castle's wall.[52][53]

In August 1648 Hamilton was together with Ormond at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Ormond landed in Cork 29 September 1648.[54] Hamilton seems to have been with him.

In January 1649 Sir George was appointed receiver-general of the revenues for Ireland succeeding to Lord Roscommon.[55] He was promoted to colonel of foot and upheld the Royalist cause against Cromwell. In 1649 he was appointed governor of Nenagh[56] for his brother in law, James Butler, at that time the Marquess of Ormond, leader of the royalists. At the end of 1650 he defended Nenagh Castle against the Parliamentarian army under Henry Ireton, which attacked it on the way back from the siege of Limerick to their winter quarters at Kilkenny. He surrendered the castle on 10 November 1650 after Ireton had menaced to breach its walls with artillery.[57][58]

The keep of Nenagh Castle

His Irish lands were confiscated, and in spring 1651 he and his family followed Ormond into French exile. They first went to Caen[59] where Ormond's wife Elizabeth Preston lived since 1648.[60] Ormond introduced him to Charles II's exile court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[61] Lady Ormond with her children returned to England in August 1652,[62] and Lady Hamilton went to Paris where she lived in the convent of the Feuillantines.[63] In 1656 or 1657 Charles sent him, together with Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, to Madrid on a diplomatic mission.[64]

In 1660, after the Restoration, he returned to London and stayed at the court of Charles II at Whitehall. In that same year the king created him Baronet of Donalong and Nenagh for his services to the royal cause.[65] Although several sources mention the creation of the baronetcy, it seems to have never been carried out entirely.[lower-alpha 3]

He died in 1679 at the age of 71 or 72 years.[70] He was succeeded by his grandson James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn, who never assumed the title of Baronet[70] but would later succeed to the earldom of Abercorn.

• Mac Cuarta, Brian (2015). "Scots Catholics in Ulster". In Edwards, David (ed.). The Scots in Early Stuart Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-9721-8. – Snippet view
• The lost Settlement of Dunnalong
• lost Settlement of Dunnalong