James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton

James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, 6th Laird of Cadzow (c. 1415 – 6 November 1479) was a Scottish nobleman, scholar and politician.

James Hamilton was the son of James Hamilton of Cadzow, 5th Laird of Cadzow. He was born at Cadzow Castle, Lanarkshire. He first appears on record on a charter of 1426, granting him the rights to the lands of Dalserf, which had been alienated by his father.

Hamilton was intimately connected with the powerful House of Douglas: his mother was a daughter of the Douglas Lord of Dalkeith, and also through his marriage in 1439/1440 with Lady Euphemia Graham, the youthful widow of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas and daughter of Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn. Hamilton became stepfather to the young 6th Earl of Douglas, his brother David, both who would be murdered in November 1440 at the 'Black Dinner' at Edinburgh Castle in the presence of James II. Furthermore, he was the stepfather of Margaret Douglas, known as the "Fair Maid of Galloway", who was to marry her cousins William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas.

Prior to 1440 he achieved the status of knighthood, and c. 1440/1441 he inherited his father's estates. In 1445, Hamilton received letters patent creating him a Lord of Parliament. This charter raised all his estates into the entail of that rank, with its Capital Messuage at the Orchard, (later Hamilton Palace), at Cadzow. Furthermore, the charter stated that henceforth the lands would be known as Hamilton as they are today.

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