Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn

Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn PC (Ire) (1659–1691) was a Scottish and Irish peer who fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War. He went with King James to Derry in 1689 and tried to negotiate the surrender of the town with Adam Murray. He raised a regiment of horse that he led in the defeats of Newtownbutler in 1689 and Aughrim in 1691. He was killed when the ship that should have brought him to France was intercepted by a Dutch privateer.

Claud Hamilton,
Earl of Abercorn
Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn.[1][lower-alpha 1]
Reign	About 1680 – 1691
Predecessor	George, 3rd Earl of Abercorn
Successor	Charles, 5th Earl of Abercorn
Born	1659 Dublin
Died	August 1691 At sea off Brest
Spouse(s)	Never married
Father	George, 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane
Mother	Elizabeth Fagan

Birth and origins

Claud was born in 1659,[2] probably in Rush near Dublin, as the eldest son of George Hamilton, and Elizabeth Fagan. His father was the 4th Baron Hamilton of Strabane and an important landowner around Strabane, County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland. The Strabanes were at that time a cadet branch of the Abercorns. Claud's mother was a rich heiress, the only child of Christopher Fagan of Feltrim, County Dublin.

He heads the list of siblings below as the eldest:

1. Claud (1659–1691);
2. Anne (died 1680), married John Browne;[3]
3. Charles (died 1701), succeeded him as the 5th Earl of Abercorn; and
4. Mary, married Garrett Dillon, Recorder of Dublin.[4]

His parents were both Catholic. The family's usual residence was Kenure House in Rush near Dublin, where he and his siblings were probably born and where his father died.[5]

Father's succession

In 1668, at the age of nine, he succeeded his father as the 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane.[6] He was usually called Lord Strabane rather than Lord Hamilton as the latter title was also that of the earls of Hamilton in Scotland.

Family tree

Claud Hamilton with parents and other selected relatives. He never married. James 1st Earl 1575–1618 Marion Boyd d. 1632 Recusant James 2nd Earl d. 1670 Claud 2nd Baron H. of Strabane d. 1638 Jean Gordon George 1st Bt. Donalong d. 1679 George 3rd Earl c. 1636 – bef. 1683 James 3rd Baron H. of Strabane 1633–1655 George 4th Baron H. of Strabane 1636/7 – 1668 Elizabeth Fagan James c. 1630– 1673 Claud 4th Earl 1659–1691 Charles 5th Earl d. 1701 James 6th Earl c. 1661 – 1734 James 7th Earl 1686–1744 Legend XXX Claud Hamilton XXX Earls of Abercorn This family tree is partly derived from the Abercorn pedigree pictured in Cokayne.[7] Also see the list of siblings in the text.

Abercorn succession

Around 1680 his father's cousin (his second cousin once removed) George Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Abercorn, died in faraway Padua, Italy. With him failed the senior line of the Abercorns. The succession passed to the Strabane branch, the descendants of Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, the second son of the 1st Earl of Abercorn, of which Claud was the living representative. He therefore succeeded his cousin as the 4th Earl of Abercorn.[8] This elevated him from baron to earl but did not make him much richer as the 2nd Earl had lost most of the Scottish Abercorn lands.[9]

With the Jacobites in Ireland

Lord Abercorn, as he was now, followed James II to France at the Glorious Revolution, and went with James to Ireland in 1689. When James arrived in Dublin and established his administration, Abercorn was appointed a member of the Jacobite Privy Council of Ireland and a Lord of the Bedchamber.[10][11]

Abercorn went with the King up to Derry[12] and was present on 18 April 1689 when James II asked the city to surrender. On 20 April 1689 the king sent him to the walls with a last proposal, which was however rejected by Adam Murray, who represented the city.[13][14][lower-alpha 2] Upon this, the army began the Siege of Derry.

He raised a regiment of horse in Ireland for James,[15] and led it in Lord Mountcashel's expedition against Enniskillen in July 1689. He was wounded in Mountcashel's defeat at Newtownbutler on 31 July.[16][17] Abercorn was outlawed and attainted in Ireland by the Williamites on 11 May 1691, forfeiting his Irish peerage.[18]

On 12 July 1691 he fought at the Battle of Aughrim under Saint Ruth against the Williamites under Ginkel. His regiment was part of the cavalry on the right wing of the Jacobites, which was commanded by de Tessé. The cavalry comprised the regiments Tyrconnel and Abercorn[19] and probably also the regiment Prendergast.[20][21] It may have been commanded by Sarsfield,[22] but others say Sarsfield commanded a cavalry reserve behind the centre.[23]

At that battle the Williamites turned the left wing and then rolled up the Jacobite position from that side. The cavalry on the right was showered with fleeing foot soldiers from the left wing and the centre, and came late into action or fled without a fight.[24]

Death and succession

Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, sent him to France to carry news of the defeat to James, and ask for help. He boarded a ship for France at Limerick, but the ship was intercepted by a Dutch privateer and Abercorn was killed in the fight that ensued.[25][26][27][lower-alpha 3]

He was 32 years old and had never married. He was succeeded by his younger brother Charles, who had become a Protestant and had sided with William at the Glorious Revolution.[28] His brother became the 5th Earl of Abercorn immediately as this title was in the peerage of Scotland and not affected by the Irish attainder. In 1692 the 5th Earl obtained the reversal of the attainder and thus became the 6th Baron Hamilton of Strabane and recovered the Irish estates.[29]

Timeline
Age	Date	Event
0	1659, Sep	Born.[2]
8	1668, 14 Apr	Succeeded his father as 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane.[6]
21	1680, about	Succeeded as the 4th Earl of Abercorn.[8]
25	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, replacing King Charles II.[30]
30	1689, Apr	With King James II before Derry.[13]
30	1689, 31 Jul	Wounded at the Battle of Newtownbutler.[17]
31	1691, 11 May	Attainted and lost Irish titles and lands.[18]
31	1691, 12 Jul	Fought at the Battle of Aughrim.[19]
31	1691, Aug	Killed in a sea-fight with a Dutch privateer.[25]

Notes and references

1. The identity of the sitter is dubious. The artist and the location are unknown.
2. The Earl of Abercorn also was the 5th Baron Hamilton of Strabane and owned much land around that town.
3. Abercorn died in August 1691 after the Battle of Aughrim, but Anderson[27] seems to ignore that he fought at Aughrim and gives the date as 1690.

1. "Portrait found on The Peerage website". Retrieved 14 July 2019.
2. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 18: "He was bap. 13 Sep. 1659 at St. Audoens, Dublin."
3. Lodge 1789, p. 116, line 18: "Anne, married to John, son of George Browne of the Neale in the co. of Mayo, Esq. and died 14 Aug. 1680."
4. Paul 1904, p. 51, line 19: "Mary, born after her father's death, married to Gerald Dillon, Recorder of Dublin ..."
5. Paul 1904, p. 50: "George, 4th Lord Strabane, who, dying 14 April 1668 at his house at Kenure, County Dublin, was buried in St. Mechlin's Church, near Rush in that county ..."
6. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 19, left: "On 14 Apr. 1668 he suc. his father in the Irish peerage and estates."
7. Cokayne 1910, p. 4: "Tabular pedigree of the Earls of Abercorn"
8. Paul 1904, p. 49, line 34: "GEORGE, third Earl of Abercorn, succeeded his father but died unmarried in Padua, on his journey to Rome, whereby the male line failed in the eldest branch, so that we return to Claud, Lord Strabane, second son of James ..."
9. Metcalfe 1909, p. 310, line 6: "On June 22, 1652, the Earl of Abercorn signed a disposition, by which, for the sum of £13,333 6s 8p. Scots, he sold to the Earl of Angus 'the Lordship and barony of Paisley, comprehending ..."
10. Burke 1949, p. 3, right column, line 36: "CLAUD, LORD HAMILTON, BARON OF STRABANE, AND 4th Earl of Abercorn, bapt 13 sept. 1659, was P. C. and Lord of the Bedchamber to JAMES II., whom he accompanied to France after the Battle of the Boyne, 1 July 1690, and was outlawed 11 May 1691."
11. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 19, right: "He was P.C. [I.], and Lord of the Bedchamber to James II with whom he went to France at the revolution ..."
12. Graham 1841, p. 279, line 13: "He attended the unfortunate king into the north in order to reduce Londonderry ..."
13. Witherow 1879, p. 114: "As a last resort the King sent the Earl of Abercorn with new terms and proposals, and Colonel Murray, at his request had a conference with him outside the walls."
14. Graham 1829, p. 107, line 18: "At the same time Lord Strabane approached the walls, a great proportion of whose defenders were his tenants, and offered the King's pardon, protection and favour ..."
15. D'Alton 1855, p. 164: "Regiments of horse. Claude Hamilton, Earl of Abercorn's ..."
16. D'Alton 1855, p. 170: "He was engaged in Lord Mount-Cashel's unsuccessful expedition against the Enniskilleners, and was wounded at this occasion."
17. Macpherson 1775, p. 221: "... that the whole army was routed, and some of the officers that did their duty killed among whom was the Sir Stephen Martin, others wounded, amongst whom was the lord Abercorn ..."
18. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 23: "... he was outlawed [I.], 11 May 1691, when his Irish peerage and estates were forfeited."
19. Boulger 1911, p. 233: "He [Saint-Ruth] marshalled his army in two lines. The cavalry on his right were the regiments of the Duke of Tyrconnell and the Earl of Abercorn ..."
20. Boulger 1911, p. 233, bottom: "The cavalry on his right were the regiments of the Duke of Tyrconnell, of the Earl of Abercorn, of Colonel Edmund Prendergast (previously that of Sutherland), besides dragoons."
21. Todhunter 1895, p. 156: "De Tessé was in command on the right wing, where were stationed the cavalry regiments of Tyrconnell, Abercorn, Prendergast, and Sutherland;"
22. Hayes-McCoy 1990, p. 250, line 20: "The cavalry of the right wing, a troop of the Life-Guard, three regiments of horse and more dragoons, was apparently commanded by Sarsfield."
23. Todhunter 1895, p. 157: "The reserve of cavalry under Sarsfield, now Lord Lucan, was placed on the left of the camp behind the hill, and the village of Aughrim ..."
24. Hayes-McCoy 1990, p. 267, line 12: "The Irish army was taken in the flank, the flank that everybody had supposed to be the stronger one, and rolled up from the left. The infantry held out in the centre as best as they could after the cavalry had fled, but Ginkel's right wing continued southward ..."
25. Gazette 1691, p. 1: "... the Orange Branch of Flushing, George Pierre commander, from Ireland, with a Prize of 6 guns and 6 Pattereroes, bound from Limericke to France, having on board several Passengers, and among the rest the Lord Abercorne, who was killed in the fight."
26. Boulger 1911, p. 244: "Lord Abercorn's vessel was intercepted by a Dutch man-of-war and he was killed in the fight."
27. Anderson 1877, p. 1: "Claud, fourth earl of Abercorn, adhered to James II. at the Revolution, and after the Battle of the Boyne embarked for France, but was killed on the voyage in 1690."
28. Handley 2004, p. 852, right column, line 50: "The fifth earl, his brother, the protestant Charles Hamilton, had his attainder reversed and received the lands from the crown in 1691."
29. Cokayne 1910, p. 5, line 27: "By Royal letters, 24 May 1692, he obtained a reversal of his brother's attainder, and suc. to the Irish peerage and estates accordingly."
30. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 20: "James II. . [Accession] 6 February, 1685"

• Anderson, William (1877), The Scottish Nation, 1, ABE–CUR, Edinburgh: Fullarton & Co.
• Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1911), The Battle of the Boyne, London: Martin Secker
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 1 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Ab-Adam to Basing
• D'Alton, John (1855), Illustrations, historical and genealogical, of King James's Irish army list, 1689, Dublin: Published by the author
• "Rye, August 8", London Gazette (2687), 8 August 1691
• Graham, Rev. John (1829), A History of the Siege of Londonderry and Defence of Enniskillen in 1688-9 (2nd ed.), Dublin: William Curry
• Graham, Rev. John (1841), "Notes: Claude Hamilton", Ireland Preserved; or The Siege of Londonderry and The Battle of Aughrim with Lyrical Poetry and Biographical Notes, Dublin: Hardy & Walker, p. 279 - Short biography in the biographical notes
• Handley, Stuart (2004), "Hamilton, James, 6th earl of Abercorn (c. 1661–1734)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 24, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 852–853, ISBN 978-0198614111
• Hayes-McCoy, Gerard Anthony (1990), Irish Battles: A Military History of Ireland, Belfast: The Appletree Press, ISBN 0-86281-250-X
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 5, Dublin: James Moore - Viscounts (for Strabane)
• Macpherson, James (1775), Original Papers; Containing the Secret History of Great Britain, from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover. To which are Prefixed Extracts from the Life of James II. Written by Himself., London: W Strahan and T Cadell
• Metcalfe, William Musham (1909), A History of Paisley, Paisley: Alexander Gardner
• Paul, James Balfour (1904), The Scots Peerage, 1, Edinburgh: David Douglas - Abercorn–Balmerino (for Abercorn)
• Witherow, Thomas (1879), Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689, London & Belfast: William Mallan & Son
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)
• Todhunter, John (1895), Life of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, London: T. Fisher Unwin

External links

• Genealogy of Claude Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn on The Peerage website