John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn
| John Hamilton | |
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Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
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| Born | July 1756 |
| Title | 1st Marquess of Abercorn |
| Other titles | 9th Earl of Abercorn |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Predecessor | James Hamilton, 8th Earl of Abercorn |
| Successor | James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Copley Lady Cecil Hamilton Lady Anne Jane Gore |
| Parents |
John Hamilton Harriet Eliot |
John James Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn KG, PC (Ire) (July 1756 – 27 January 1818) was an Irish peer and politician.
He was the son of Captain Hon. John Hamilton and grandson of James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn. He was educated at Harrow and Pembroke College, Cambridge. There he became the friend of William Pitt the Younger, a connection that would serve him well in later years.
He was a Tory Member of Parliament for two boroughs in Cornwall from 1783 to 1789, when he succeeded to the Earldom. He was a supporter of his friend Pitt's first ministry, and a friend of William Pitt the Younger. He was created 1st Marquess of Abercorn on 15 October 1790, doubtless due to his political connections.
He was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland on 7 February 1794. Most of the Abercorn lands were in Ireland, and the Marquess made great efforts to build a voting bloc in the Irish Parliament from County Donegal and County Tyrone, although with relatively little success. He was invested as a Knight of the Garter on 17 January 1805.
George W. E. Russell provided the following sketch of his aristocratic character:
This admirable nobleman always went out shooting in his Blue Ribbon, and required his housemaids to wear white kid gloves when they made his bed. Before he married his first cousin, Miss Cecil Hamilton, he induced the Crown to confer on her the titular rank of an Earl's daughter, that he might not marry beneath his position; and, when he discovered that she contemplated eloping, he sent a message begging her to take the family coach, as it ought never to be said that Lady Abercorn left her husband's roof in a hack chaise.
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