John Hamilton (Jacobite)

John Hamilton, comte de Hamilton, (died 1691) was an Irish military officer of Scottish descent, best known for his participation in the Williamite war in Ireland, in which he fought on the side of the deposed James II. He died from wounds received at the Battle of Aughrim.

Birth and origins
John Hamilton was born about 1651, probably in Ireland just before his family left for France in 1651. He was one of the nine children and the sixth and youngest of the sons of George Hamilton and his wife Mary Butler. His father was Scottish, the fourth son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, and would in 1660 be created baronet of Donalong and Nenagh. His mother was Irish, from an influential Old English family, the third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and a sister of the future 1st Duke of Ormond. His parents married in 1629.

He appears below among his siblings as the seventh child:


 * 1) James (c. 1630 – 1673), who became ranger of Hyde Park and lost a leg in a sea-fight;
 * 2) George (died 1676), who was killed in French service;
 * 3) Elizabeth (1641–1708), who was a famous beauty and married Philibert de Gramont;
 * 4) Anthony (c. 1645 – 1719), who fought for the Jacobites in Ireland and wrote the Mémoires du comte de Grammont.
 * 5) Thomas (died 1687), who served in the Royal Navy and died in Boston, Massachusetts;
 * 6) Richard (died 1717), who fought for the Jacobites and was taken prisoner at the Boyne;
 * 7) John (died 1691),  the subject of this article;
 * 8) Lucia (died 1676), who married Sir Donough O'Brien, 1st Baronet; and
 * 9) Margaret, who married Mathew Forde of Seaforde.

Both his parents were Catholic, but some relatives on his father's as on his mother's side were Protestants.

His grandfather, James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, was a Protestant, but his father and all his paternal uncles were raised as Catholics due to the influence of his paternal grandmother, Marion Boyd, a recusant. Some branches of the Hamilton family were Protestant, such as that of his father's second cousin Gustavus (1642–1723), who would become the 1st Viscount Boyne.

His mother's family, the Butlers, were generally Catholic with the notable exception of the future 1st Duke of Ormond, his maternal uncle.

His eldest brother, James, would turn Protestant when marrying Elizabeth Colepeper in 1661, and his son, also called James Hamilton, would fight on the other side during the Siege of Derry. His brother Thomas seems to have made the same choice as he became a captain in the Royal Navy.

Irish wars and first French exile
His father was a soldier in the Irish army and fought for the royalists under his uncle James Butler, the Earl of Ormond, in the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1648) and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-1653). Early in 1651 his family followed Ormond into French exile. His mother brought him along as an infant, first to Caen or near that town where they were accommodated for some time by Elizabeth Preston, the Marchioness of Ormond. From there his mother brought him along with her to Paris where she lived in the convent of the Feuillantines together with her sister Eleanor, Lady Muskerry, the wife of Donough Maccarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, later Earl Clancarty.

Restoration
He and his family returned to London in 1660 after the English Restoration. Their Irish estates were returned to them and his father was created Baronet Donalong in 1660 by Charles II. However, the king refused to go further than that because the family was Catholic.

Ireland
John Hamilton became an officer in James II's Royal Irish Army, as did his older brothers Anthony and Richard. He stayed loyal to James at the 1688 Glorious Revolution. By June 1690 he was ranked as a brigadier, and was listed as one of the "Directors" left in Ireland by Tyrconnell when the latter travelled to France following the defeat at the Boyne.

During the 1691 campaign in Ireland, Hamilton was involved in the Siege of Athlone, where he attempted to retake the city with two infantry brigades. He was subsequently in command of the second line of infantry at the Battle of Aughrim. Seriously wounded, he was taken prisoner late in the day and died in Dublin shortly afterwards.

Family
In 1690 Hamilton married Elizabeth Macan and had issue.

Timeline
As the birth date is uncertain, so are the ages.