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LT.-COL.
I
OTHO HAMILTON
OF
OLIVESTOB
■
■•IW»iW^^^«
To THE Memory of My Mother
Anna Augusta Willoughby Hamilton Eaton
{Voungesi Daughter of Otho Hamilton)
I DEDICATE THIS BRIBP RECORD
OF
Eminent Military Service
BY
MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY
wm
.1
PUM or J. R. rmouv, 111 BmiNtwiCK tr., HAurut, N. a.
t
LT.-COL. OTHO HAMILTON
OF OLIVESTOB
LIBUTBNANT-GOVBRNOR OF PI^CBNTIA, UBUTBNANT-CdWJNBl,
IN THE ARMY, MAJOR OF THB 40TH RBGIMBNT OF FOOT,
MBMBER OF THB NOVA SCOTIA COUNCII. FROM
1731 TO 1744
His Sons, Captain John and Lieutenant-Coi.onel
Otho Hamilton, 2»», and his Grandson,
Sir Ralph Hamilton, Kt.
BY
REV. ARTHUR WENTWORTH HAMILTON EATON, B. A.
AUTHOR or
'THE CHUBCH OF KNGLAND IN NOVA SCOTIA AND THE TOBT CLXBOT OP
THE REVOLUTION." "THE NOVA SCOTIA BATONS," "THE OLIVESTOB
UAMILT0N8," "THE ELMWOOD BATONS," "THE HAMILTONS
OF DOVKB AND BERWICK," "WILLIAM THOBNE AND
SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS." "THE FAMILIES OF BATON-
SUTHERLAND, LATTON-HILL," "THE COCHBAN-
INOLIS FAMILY OF HALIFAX," AC, AC.
HALIFAX, N. S.
C. H. RuGGLES & Co.
isee
LT.-COL. OTHO HAMILTON
BORN ABOUT 1690. DIED FEBRUARY 26, 1770
The person most conspicuous in the capture of Port
Royal in Acadia from the French, in 1710, was Francis
Nicholson, a Scotchman, who has the honour of having
been successively governor of a greater number of provinces
than any other man known in history. Actively associated
with him in this enterprise was Colonel Samuel Vetch,
"the son of a godly minister in the Grass Market,"
Edinburgh, to whom undoubtedly belongs even more
honour in the final reduction of Port Royal than to
Nicholson, himself. In Mc Vicar's historical sketch of
Annapolis Royal, the story of the prolonged efforts made
by the neighbouring New England colonists to induce the
British Government to send troops from England to
capture the fort, will be found in detail. In these efforts
both Nicholson and Vetch were the active agents of the
New England people, and in response to their personal
appeals, and under their conduct, a fleet was at last sent
out to Boston in the summer of 17 10, to join the colonists
in an attack on Port Royal. On the fifth of October the
force actually appeared before the town, on the ninth the
troops landed from the transports, and on the tenth the
surrender was completed, the French Governor, Subercase,
and his faithful soldiers marching out, and the English
General, Nicholson, formally receiving the keys.
Among the recruits who came to Boston with Nicholson
and Vetch was Otho Hamilton, the youngest son of Colonel
Thomas Hamilton, of Edinburgh, and his wife Grizel
(Hamilton), people of high standing in the Scottish
capital. In early life Colonel Thomas Hamilton, of the
Olivestob branch of the Hamilton family, had entered the
Swedish army, where he attained the rank of Captain, but
later, returning to Scotland, had adopted civil life, and had
become an influential citizen of Edinburgh. When the
Edinburgh Regiment was raised in the Revolution of i6S8,
however, he was made its lieutenant-colonel. The
Olivestob branch of the Hamilton family took i*.s name
from the estate owned by it in East Lothian, the word
Olivestob being a transformation of the words Holy Stop,
the place where the host formerly stopped in its
procession from Preston to the Cistercian abbey of
Newbattle, near by. Olivestob House is now called
Bankton, and its location is near the Preston station, and
a very short distance from the well known East Lothian
village of Prestonpans. A careful monograph on this
branch of the Hamilton family was published in 1893, and
will be found in the leading libraries at home and abroad.
By that sketch it may be seen that the family is noted as
having supplied many sons to the British army, and that
the career of Major Otho Hamilton, which we are here
about to trace, was strictly in pursuance of long established
family traditions. The mother of Major Otho, as we have
seen, was Grizel Hamilton. She was a daughter of James
Hamilton of Westport and his wife Anna, who was a
daughter of Sir Patrick Hamilton of Little Preston, a
brother of Thomas Hamilton, first Earl of Haddington.
His paternal grandfather was John Hamilton of Edinburgh
and his grandmother, Anna Elphinstone, a daughter of
James Elphinstone of Innerdovat in Fife, and a grand-
daughter of Alexander, second Lord Elphinstone, who fell
at the Battle of Pinkie in 1548.
Of Otho Hnmilton's bnptisni the register of the old
Cathedral parish of Edinburgh makes no mention, though
the baptisms of six of his father's twelve children are there
recorded. His birth, however, must have occurred about
1690, and his boyhood was probably spent in his native
city. In 1 7 10 he joined the force embarking for the
new world, and the records in the War Office give the
date of his En.sign's commission as June i6th. In 1714 he
was Ensign in Captain J. Williams' independent company
at Annapolis, the company containing besides these two
commissioned officers, three sergeants, three corporals,
three drummers, and thirty-three men. On the 31st of
December, 17 14, Captain Williams' company .swore
allegiance to King George the Fir.st, and on the loth of
Januar>', 1715, En.sign Hamilton also took the oath, one of
the witnesses thereto being Dr. William Skene, another
Scotchman, who was appointed army surgeon at Annapolis
May 12, 1746, and so remained until February 7, 1757,
when Dr. William Catherwood .succeeded him. In 1717
the four independent companies at Annapolis and four
independent companies at Placentia in Newfoundland,
with two additional companies, were formed into one
regiment and named the 40th, the first colonel of which,
Richard Philipps, afterward Governor of Nova Scotia,
received his commission August 25, 1717. This regiment,
which Murdoch, the historian of Nova Scotia, says it was
intended to increase to eight hundred and fifteen men, the
complement of an English marching regiment, according to
records in the Nova Scotia archives now numbered
including officers, four hundred and forty- five men.
Succeeding Philipps in the colonelcy of the 40th were Sir
Edward Comwallis, March 13, 1752, and Col. Thomas
Hopson, March 4, 1754.
The successive promotions of Otho Hamilton in the
40th were: Lieutenant, August 9, 1718 ; Capt. -Lieut.,
July 8, 1734 ; Captain, September 3, 1739 ; Major, January
30, 1745-6. In the Commission Books in the War Office,
under date of July 8, 1734, Otho Hamilton, Esq., is
appointed " Capt. -Lieut, of that company in our Regiment
of Foot sometime commanded by Richard Philipps, Esq.,
whereof he himself is Captain."
During the nearly forty years that the little garrison
town of Annapolis remained the capital and indeed the
only English settlement of Nova Scotia, the Provincial
documents make many casual allusions to the subject of
this sketch. In Vol. 9, Nova Scotia Record Commission,
under date of August 15, 1726, is an interesting letter from
Otho Hamilton at Annapolis, to Governor Mascarene at
Boston, sent as the writer says, by Mrs. Hamilton, his
wife. The letter treats of the garrison stores, of certain
Frenchmen, of Mascarene' s man "Will," &c. On the 28th
of July, 1727, less than two months after the accession
of George the Second, the Secretary of the Nova Scotiii
Council, Mr. Wm. Sheriff (often spelled Shirriff), another
Scotchman, probably also from the Lothians, refusing to
act, Lieutenant Otho Hamilton was temporarily appointed
in his place. The Council at this time consisted of the
President, Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong ; Major Paul
Mascarene, John Adams, a New England Trader ; the
Secretary, William Sheriff ; Major Henry Cope, and William
Winniett ; Otho Hamilton himself being elected thereto,
October 9, 1731. In 1730 we find Lieutenant Hamilton's
name as one of the sixteen witnesses to the subscription -pf
the oath of allegiance at Annapolis, of two hundred and
twenty-seven French residents in that part of the Province.
May 12, 1735 he received a deed of land from Charles Vane.
In 1736, during Mr. Sheriff's absence in England, he was
again acting as Secretar>- of the Council. April 6th of that
year he received a deed of land from John Adams, and
August 30th Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong assigned a
thousand acres of land on the north side of the Basin of
Minas to Otho Hamilton, John Haviilion, and thirty other
gentlemen. The same date the two Hamiltons and thirty-
four others received a grant of fifty thousand acres at
Chignecto, Nor^vich, &c., which was escheated, as was also
the former grant, in 1760. In 1738, Lieut. Otho received
a^ grant of three acres, two roods, and thirty-one perches
rf marsh land, bounding on Allen's River. August 15th
of that year he received three lots, June 17, 1739, ten lots,
and July 18, 1739 one lot of land, at AnnapoHs.
December 7, 1739. the day after the suicide of
Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong, Captain Hamilton was
actmg with the other members of the Council, Adams
Skene, Sheriff, Amherst, and Slater, in a meeting held in
S' ^«r f,f ^P^^«id^^"t of the Council, John Adams.
The 28th of March, 1740, "having been made Captain of
one of the companies at Canso, and having to go there on
duty, he was appointed and sworn a Justice of the Peace
throughout the province." A royal commission dated
September 4, 1740 (the 14th year of King George II)
appointed five members of the Council of New York five
of New Jersey, and five of Nova Scotia, to settle the
boundaries between the Province of Massachusetts Bav
and the Colony of Rhode Island, and Captain Otho
Hamilton, was one of the five appointed from Nova Scotia
Since however, Henry Cope, one of the designated
members of the Commission, was in the expedition to the
West Indies, and Captain Hamilton was at Canso, Messrs
Skene, Sheriff, and Erasmus J. Philipps, the other Nova
members, left Annapolis for New England on this mission
in April, without them. How long Captain Hamilton
remained at Canso we do not know, but in 1744 he could
not have been there, for on the 13th of May of that year,
soon after the beginning of hostilities between France and
Great Britain, Monsieur Du Vivier, with a few armed
vessels and about nine hundred men, regulars and militia,
from Louisburg, took Canso without any resistance and
reduced the place again to French authority.
In 1744. Henry Cope, Lieutenant-Governor of the town
and garrison of Placeutia on the northern coast of
Newfoundland, died, and by a proclamation dated at St.
James' the 25th of December of that year, Captain
Hamilton was appointed in his place, with a salary of a
hundred and eighty-two pounds, ten shillings. It is
probable that he removed at once from Nova Scotia to his
new post, and remained there until advanced age obliged
him to withdraw from active service. The 30th of
January, 1745-6, he was appointed Major of the 40th, and
he so remained until 1761, when he resigned. On his
retirement from the regiment Major Hamilton must have
received the army rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, for in the
Calendar of Home Office Papers in the War Office (Reign
of George III October 25, 1760-1765, Vol. 20, in the
Public Record Office, London) there is a letter from Mr.
Townsend to the Earl of Egremont, of the 24th of
November, 1761, enclosing an extract from Lieut. -Col.
Hamilton, Lieut. -Governor of Placeutia, to Mr. Bullock,
desiring bedding for the garrison at Placeutia. Mr.
Hamilton's will was made at Waterford, Ireland, August
23, 1768, and the 26th of February, 1770, he died
there, still holding the position of Lieutenant-Governor
of Placeutia in Newfoundland. In this position he was
immediately followed by Major Joseph Goreham.
Of the life of the people at Annapolis in those early
3'ears, before the governincit was transferred to Halifax,
we know almost nothing in detail. They had more or less
communication with Bostoti. lint they were very remote,
and for society they must have been thrown almost entirely
on themselves. The facts of Nova Scotia history are
generally pretty well known, but the story of that little
garrison in the new world and the people who composed
the society of the "upper" and "lower" town of Annapolis,
between 1710 and 1749, remains yet to be told. Undoubt-
edly Major Otho Hamilton married at Annapolis, but who
his wife was or when she died, we have so far no means
whatever of knowing. In his will as we shall see, Mr.
Hamilton remembers his wife's sister Mrs. Aime Skene,
and as we review the names of the people in the Annaix)lis
garrison it seems almost impossible to doubt that whatever
his wife's maiden name was, she was a sister of the wife
of Dr. William Skene, who probably died at Annapolis in the
year that his name disappears from the army list as surgeon
of the 40th, the year 1757. Of the children of Major
Hamilton and his wife we know much more, and the
information we have concerning them will be given a little
further on. They were only three, John, Otho, and
Grizel.
In one of the grants of land above referred to, occurs
the name of a John Hamilton, contemporary with Otho,
who ought to receive some notice here. In March, 1734,
the Lrieutenant-Governor commissioned "John Hamilton,
gentleman," as naval officer and deputy collector for the
port of Annapolis, and we have one or two subsequent
notices of him in connection with the duties of the
coUectorship. In 1736 he was a member of the Council,
but we know nothing whatever of him after this time!
Who he was, however, it is not difficult to determine.
T^^
Among the sons of John Hamilton of Edinburgh, founder
of the Olivestob branch of the Hamiltons, and his wife
Anna Elphinstone, there was an uncle of Major Otho's,
named John, who held the position of Baillie of the Abbey
of Holyrood, an office in the gift of the Duke of Han^.ilton,
which seems for generations to have remained in the
Hamilton family. The wife of this John Hamilton was
Katherine Arbuckle, a beautiful woman, a copy of whose
portrait, as well as of her husband's, is in the possession of
the author of the present sketch. From references to their
children obtained from abroad it seems quite certain that
it was their second son John, a first cousin of Major Otho's,
who was appointed naval officer and collector of the port
of Annapolis in 1736.
Copy of a record in the Public Record Office of Ireland,
entitled :
\Vii,i, OF Otho Hamhton. 1770, Prerogative Court
In the name of God Amen I Otho Hamilton of the City of
Waterford Esq Ivieutenant-Govemor of the Town and Garrison of
Placentia in His Majesty's Island of Newfoundland being of perfect
mind memory and understanding calling to mind the mortality of
my body and that it is appointed for all men once to die Do make
and Ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner followng
that is to say First and principally I give and commit my Soul into
the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my body I desire may
be buried by my Executors hereinafter named in a Christian like and
decent manner not doubting but at the general Resurrection I shall
receive the same again by the mighty power of God And as touching
all such worldly Estate and substance wherewith it hath pleased God
to bless me in this life I give devise and dispose of the same in
manner following that is to say I leave and bequeath unto my
Daughter in Law Mary Hamilton Wife of my Son Captain John
Hamilton late of the Fortieth Regiment the Sum of One Hundred
pounds sterl. as a mark of my Gratitude for her Care and Kindness
to me when I was taken ill on my Journey from Cork to Waterford
I leave and bequeath unto my good friend Charles Gould Esq of the
I
./
■\
m
\
/
Horfie Guards the Sum of One Hundred pounds sterl. lawful money
of Great Britain I give to my ser^'^ant Csesar his freedom and I leave
and bequeath unto him the Sum of Ten pounds sterl. lawful money
of Great Britain and whereas the Pension of Mrs. Ann Skene my
Wife's Sister is not sufficient for her support I do therefore leave and
bequeath unto her One Annuity or yearly sum of Ten pounds sterl.
for and during her natural life and no longer and to be paid to her
by two even and equal half yearly payments by my Executors
hereinafter named that is to say on every first day of May and first
day of Novcmlier the first payment to be made and begin on such of
the said days as shall happen next after my Decease And I do hereby
charge my personal Estate and fortune w ith the Payment of the sd.
Annuity of Ten pounds to the said Ann Skene during her natural life
as aforesaid And I will and direct that all the rest residue and
remainder of all my real and personal Estate Goods Chatties and
Effects of what nature or kind soever whereof I am now seised or
possessed or whereof I shall dye seised possessed or any way intitled
unto ( after paymt. of my just Debts funeral Expenses and the several
Legacies hereinbefore bequeathed) shall be di\-ided into four equal
ires or parts thereof unto my Eldest Son John Hamilton to and for
.s sole use and benefit And I give leave devise and bequeatli unto
my Son Major Otho Hamilton of the said fortieth Regiment one other
share or part thereof to and for his own proper use and benefit And I
give leave devise and bequeath the other remaining share or part
thereof unto my said Two Sons John Hamilton and Otho Hamilton in
trust that they and the SurvTS. of them & the Executors and
Administrators of such Survrs. shall pay apply and dispose of the
yearly Interest Income & produce thereof as the same shall from time
to time arise accrue or be received into the proper hands of my Son
in Law Richard Dawson Esqr and Grizy Dawson otherwise Hamilton
his wife and the Survrs. of them and from and after the Deaths of the
sr.id Richard Dawson and Grizy his Wife and the Sur\-rs. of them in
trust that the said John & Otho Hamilton & the Survrs. of them
and the Exrs. or Admrs. of such Survrs. shall assign pay transferr
and dispose of the sd. fourth remaining part or share of my sd. Estate
and Effects to such of the Children of the said Grizy Dawson as shall
be then living in such shares manner and proportions as the sd.
Richard and Grizy Dawson or the Sur\rs. of them shall by Deed Will
or Writing executed in the presence of two or more credible
Witnesses limit or appoint the same And in default thereof then unto
and among all and every the Childn. of the sd. Grizy Dawson as shall
11
be living at the time of the death of the Survrs. of tlietn the sd.
Richard and Grizy Dawson to be equally divided between them if
more than one share and share alike and if but one Child to go to
such only Child Provided always nevertheless that in Case the sd.
Grizy Dawson shall have no Child or Childn. living at the time of her
Decease then I will and direct that from and after the Death of the
Survrs. of them the sd. Richd. and Grizy Daw.son the sd. fourth part
of my sd. Estate and Effects shall go to and be equally divided
between my sd. two Sons John Hamilton and Otho Hamilton share
and share alike And in Case of their Deaths I will that the one moiety
or half thereof shall go to the Issue of my sd. Son Otho Hamilton
and the other juoiety or half thereof unto my three Grandsons Otho
William and Thos. Hamilton (sons of the sd. John Hamilton) to and
for their sole use and benefit And I Do hereby nominate constitute
& appoint my sd. Sons John and Otho Hamilton and the said Charles
Gould Exrs. of this my last will and Testamt. and Do revoke all
former Will and Wills by me made In Witness whereof I have
hereunto set my Hand and Seal and do declare and publish this my
last Will and Testament this Twenty-Third day of August in the year
of our Lord One thousand and seven hundred and sixty-eight.
Signed Sealed published and Declared by the'
sd. Otho Hamilton as and for his last
Will and Testamt. in presence of us who
in his presence and in the presence of
each other
subscribed
hereunto
and at his
names
our
request have
as Witnesses
■ Otho Hamilton [seal]
John Roberts
Patt Mooney
Theo Cooke
Whereas I Otho Hamilton Lieutenant Governor of the Town and
Garrison of Placentia in His ISIajesty's Island of Newfoundland and
now of the City of Waterford Esqr did in and by my last Will and
Testament in Writing hereunto annexed bearing date the twenty-
third Day of August Instant leave and bequeath unto my Son Major
Otho Hamilton of the Fortieth Regiment one fourth part or share of
my Estate and fortune as therein mentioned for his own use and
benefit And Whereas I have since executed unto my said Son Otho
Hamilton one Bond or Obligation bearing Date the twenty fifth day
m
of August Instant of the Penalty of Two Thousand four Hundred
Pounds sterl. conditioned for the Payment of the Sum of One
Thousand Two Hundred pounds sterl. to the said Otho Hamilton on
toe day of my Death Now I Do by this my Writing (which I Do
tw "A ^ " ^.°''''"i°i"^ ^'^ "^" ^^ '^'''' *o be taken as pS
thereof) will order and direct that the said Sma of One ThoJand
Two Hundred pounds shall be deemed and taken as part of the said
fourth part or share of my said Estate and fortu'T ^ by ^e
bequeathed to the said Otho Hamilton and shall be accorLgTy
fnd £:? tvT"* '; V'^r ^^'""^^ ' ""'^^ ""'^^^'^ *t my Hand
and Seal th,s Twenty Sixth Day of August in the year of 0,i Urd
One thousand seven hundred and sixty eight.
Signed sealed published and declared by thel
said Otho Hamilton as and for a Codicil I
to his last Will and Testament in presence L^ . ,,
of us who in his presence and in the | ° '^"°*'*°° f^'l
presence of each other have subscribed I
our Names as Witnesses hereunto J
John Roberts
Patt Mooney
Theo Cooke
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Captain John Hamilton, eldest son of Lieut. -Colonel
Otho Hamilton was probably born at Annapolis about
1724, and received his Ensign's commission about 1742.
The first printed Army List is of the year 1754, and the
manuscript records in the War Office have not so far
been searched for Captain Hamilton's first and second
commissions. He was, however, Lieutenant, in 1749, and
his Captain's commission dates from March 27, 1753. In
the army list for 1754 he appears as Captain, Dr. William
Skene as surgeon. Rev. George Thomson or Thompson as
chaplain, and another John Hamilton as quartermaster.
In the army list for 1755 John Handfield, whose commission
is dated October 15, 1754, is Major, John and Otho
Hamilton (the commission of the latter is dated June 26,
1754) are Captains, a younger John Handfield, whose
commission bears date February 12, 1755, is Ensign, and
a John Hamilton, Jr., appointed February 26, 1755, is
quartermaster. The latter ceased to be quartermaster
in 1756.
April 23, 1740, John Hamilton, probably Major Otho's
son, was sworn in Assistant Secretary of the Council, and
the 15th of August, 1752, while still a lieutenant, a young
widower, he married (2) at Annapolis, Mary Handfield,
a daughter of Captain, afterward Major, John Handfield,
who was actively concerned in the removal of the Acadians
from Annapolis ; Captain Handfield himself, in the absence
of a garrison chaplain, performing the ceremony. On the
27th of November (old style, December 8th new style)
1749, some three hundred Micmac Indians surprised
Lieutenant Hamilton and eighteen men, who had been
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detached by Captain Handfield at his fort at Minas, made
the whole party prisoners and took them to Quebec, where
they remained as prisoners until some time in the autumn
of 1 75 1. Then they were ransomed by the payment of a
certain sum of money, for which Hamilton drew on
Governor Cornwallis. While he was a prisoner at Quebec,
Lieutenant Hamilton became acquainted with the notorious
Abbe he Loutre, Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec,
a bitter enemy to England's rule in Acadia, and in 1754,
Abbe Le Loutre desiring for some reason at the time to
conciliate the English, used Lieutenant Hamilton as a
channel of intercourse between himself and the government.
In a letter to Charles Lawrence, Lieutenant-Governor and
President of the Council, dated Aug 27, 1754, Le Loutre
writes : "I have had the honor of being acquainted with
Captain Hamilton for several years. He knows my way of
thinking, and the real desire I feel for the continuance of
the good harmony that exists between our sovereigns. He
wrote to me some time ago from Port Royal, and informed
me that he would come to our neighborhood (Bean S^jour)
and propose a reconciliation between our savages and the
English. Since his arrival at Fort Lawrence, of which he
advised me, he was pleased to accept the invitation to
dinner which I then gave him on our part. It was then
that we had a conversation as to the means to be employed
to bring about this reconciliation. He wrote to you on the
subject. Sir, and you have since given your orders to Mr.
Hussey, who commands at Fort Lawrence," &c., &c.
(N. S. Archives, Record Commission, B. 215.) This letter
was read at a meeting of the Council held at the Governor's
house at Annapolis on Monday, September 9, 1754, at
which there were present Lieut. -Gov. Lawrence, Benjamin
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Green, John Collier, William Cotterell, and Robert
Monckton.
The 27th of March, 1753, Lieutenant Hamilton received
his Captain's commission, and in 1766 he retired from the
army, so in 1767 and thereafter, his tiameis absent from the
army lists. There was another John Hamilton, who
received his Ensign's commission in the 40th, on the 28th
of June, 1755, and his Lieutenancy, the 28th of February,
1761, and who also disappears from the army list as an
oflBcer of the 40th in 1766. Whether he was a son of the
John Hamilton, naval oflficer, or who he was we cannot now
tell. As we have seen, Captain John Hamilton married at
Annapolis in 1752, seven months before he received his
Captain's commission, Mary Handfield, and in his father's
will made August 23, 1768, he is referred to as Captain
John Hamilton, late of the 40th, and his wife Mary and
their children, Otho, William, and Thomas Hamilton,
are all mentioned. Captain Hamilton died before 1802,
probably in Waterford, Ireland, and Anderson says in
1827, that some of his descendants were then living in
Cumberland, England. His wife Mary, as we learn from
her father's will, died sometime between July, 1766, and
January, 1773. Major Handfield, who became Lieut. -Col.
of the 40th, also died in Ireland, in 1788.
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lylEUTENANT-COLONEL OTHO HAMILTON, 2ND. The
life of Lieutenant-Colonel Otho Hamilton, 2nd, second son
of the Lieut. -Governor of Placentia is much better known
to us than that of his older brother John. He was
probably bom at Annapolis about 1726, and his Ensign's
connni.'jsion in the 40th was obtained May 25, 1744. He
was made Lieutenant October 24, 1747, Captain- Lieutenant
March 27, 1753, Captain June 26, 1754, Major, November
10, 1761. December 14, 1770, he was transferred to the
59th as Lieutenant-Colonel, his successor in the Majority
of the 40th being James Grant. In 1802 (February 5th)
when he made his will, he was Barrack Master of Romford,
Essex, England. His death occurred in 181 1.
Lieut. -Col. Otho, 2nd, married in Ireland, October 21,
1768, Catherine Elizabeth Clement Hawtrey, probably
sister of the Rev. Ralph Hawtrey, of Waterford, whose
name is conspicuous in his will. By his marriage he had
two children, Col. Sir Ralph Hamilton, Kt., whose record
will be found further on, and Grizel Ann Hamilton, who
was never married.
July 20, 1752, as we learn from Nova Scotia records,
Mr. Hamilton received two hundred acres of land on the
east side of Chebucto Harbor, and on the 17th of May,
1764, a lot in the town of Halifax. In the Assembly, on
Saturday, October 13, 1764,'the House voted its thanks to
Major Hamilton for the aid he had given with his troops in
the repair and improvement of the road to the interior of
the Province. In the Council, December 24th of that year,
' ' on behalf of himself and a considerable number of oflBcers,
gentlemen, traders, and farmers," a petition from Major
Hamilton was read, "for a township of 100,000 acres on
the St. John River." The record states that the
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petitioners were referred to the Board of Trade, and that
the land meanwhile was ordered to be reserved. In this
year, 1764, Hamilton was with the 40th at Halifax, in
1767-8 he was quartered at Dublin, and in 1769 at Cork.
After Major Hamilton left the regiment, between 1772 and
1778, it was stationed at various places in America, in the
latter year at Philadelphia. In 1774, ^^ Colonel of the
59th, Hamilton came to the assistance of Governor Gage at
Boston. Essex Institute (Mass.) Vol. 13, p. 18. In the
Essex Gazette for 1774, No. 316, we find that the Governor,
Thomas Gage "deemed it prudent toward the end of the
next month (August) to move with two companies of the
64th Regiment to guard his headquarters ; and on the 13th
of August, 1774, the 59th Regiment under Col. Hamilton,
landed from the transports in which they had arrived the
day before, and encamped near the fort on the neck."
Anderson, in his "House of Hamilton," says: Col. Otho
Hamilton ' ' died in 1 8 1 1 , after an active and honourable
service of half a century's continuance, principally in
America, under the late lyord Amherst and General Wolfe,
by whose friendship and confidence he was particularly
distinguished." In his will he calls himself, "Otho
Hamilton of the Parish of Saint Margaret, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, and now Barrack
Master of Rumford in the County of Essex." His
residence in London was No. 15, James Street, West-
minster. His will is long a*nd complex, but the only
persons of importance to this history mentioned in it are
his wife and two children, his grandson Otho William
Hawtrey Hamilton, his deceased brother John, the Rev.
Ralph Hawtrey of Waterford, and Col. William Browning,
a near relative of his wife's. The will was proved by his
widow at London (in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury,
and a copy lodged in the Prerogative Court of Ireland)
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April 5, 1811. For copies of both his and his father's
wills, the author of this monograph is indebted to the
kindness of Arthur Hill, Esq., formerly of Castle Malwood,
now of Fritham Lodge, Lyndhurst, Hants.
The following extract from papers in the War Office,
also kindly made by Arthur Hill, Esq., December 9, 1898,
throws light on the transfer of Col. Hamilton from the
40th to the 59th Regiment in 1770 :
To His Excellency Lord Viscount Townshend, I^rd Lieutenant,
General and Governor General of Ireland, &c., &c.
The Memorial of Major Otho Hamilton and Captain Adam
Williamson of the 40th Regiment.
His Majesty by his late Regulation having positively ordered
one Field Officer to be resident, has prevented your Memorialist from
making any application for leave, and during twenty-five years
Service has been absent only one year from the Regiment, served the
whole war in North America and the West Indies ; was wounded at
at the Seige (sic) of Quebec and purchased his Majority in
November 1761.
Your other Memoralist Captain Adam Williamson has been
upward of sixteen years an Officer, served in North America and the
West Indies from the defeat of General Braddock to the taking the
Havanah ; was twice severely wounded at the Monongahela and
Seige (sic) of Quebec and purchased his Company in April, 1760.
Your Memoralist begs leave to represent that Lieut.-Col. Grant
being Governor of East Florida renders it impossible for him to
attend the Regiment, and this case in respect to the whole army is
very singular.
They flatter themselves their Characters as Men and Officers will
bear the strictest scrutiny.
Your Memoralists therefore humbly hope that having had the
honour to serve under Your Excellency at Quebec, that Your
Excellency will be pleased to take their Service and Case into
consideration and lay their memorial before His Majesty recommend-
ing them for the brevet rank of Lieut.-Collonel (sic) and Major, which
Commissions His Majesty was most graciously pleased to sign for
them in 1766 but were afterwards recalled.
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Should your Memoralists be so fortunate to succeed, His Majesty's
• Orders would be complied with and one Field Officer constantly
Resident with the Regiment.
And your Memorialists &c.
Endorsed :
Recommended by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and General
Williamson.
(See Calendar of Home Office Papers. George III 177&-1772
Under 13 Jan. 1770, Ireland. Vol. 437. No. 4. In Public Record
Office, London).
/
Grizel Hamilton, only daughter of Lieut. -Col. Otho
of Placentia, was married to Colonel Richard Dawson, an
officer in the Engineers. Colonel Dawson appears in' the
Army Lists as Engineer in Ordinary and Captain, March
17. 1759, Lieut. -Col. in the army, August 29, 1777, and
Lieut. -Colonel in the Engineers, January i, 1783. He was
Colonel in the army, November 20, 1782. His name
appears among Invalid Engineers, January i, 1783, and he
must have died in 1788 or 1789, for after 1788 his name is
not found in the Army Lists.
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Sir Ralph Hamilton, Kt., Groom of the Bedchamber
to Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, only son
of I.ieut. -Colonel Otho Hamilton, 2nd, and his wife
Catherine Elizabeth Clement Hawtrey, was born probably
about 1770. He married in London, July 14, 1791, a Miss
Green of James Street, and had four children :
Otho William Hawtrey
William Frederick
George Burton
Emma Eliza
From the Army Lists we find that Sir Ralph entered
the 17th Light Dragoons as a comet, March 31st, 1783 •
was made Captain of the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards,'
June 13, 1794; was given the army rank of Major, April
29, 1802 ; was Lieut. -Colonel of the Limerick Fencibles
on the infirm list in 181 9, and was commissioned Colonel
of the Limerick Fencibles, August 12, of the same year.
In 1830 Sir Ralph received the honour of Knighthood and
his death occurred the next year, 1831. Anderson in his
history of the House of Hamilton says that Sir Ralph
served abroad with the Guards on the breaking out of the
French Revolutionary War in 1793, and as aid-de-camp to
the Duke of Gloucester in North Holland in 1799, and
that he wrote a poetical account of the campaigns of '1793,
1794. The Gentleman's Magazine for 1831, on the occasion
of his death has the following notice of him :
"In James Street, Buckingham Gate, June 24 1831
Col. Sir Ralph Hamilton, Kt., of Olivestob, N. B., Groom
of the Bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester. He pur-
chased a cometcy in the 17th Light Dragoons in 1783, and
afterwards removed to the King's Dragoon Guards. In
1789 he entered the 3rd Foot Guards, with the first brigade
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of which he served in the campaign of 1793 in the
Netherlands. In 1799 he made the campaign of North
Holland as Aid-de-Camp to Prince William Frederick of
Gloucester, who appointed him a Groom of his Bed-
chamber. From the 3rd Foot Guards he exchanged into
the 36th Regiment, and was afterwards Major of the 71st.
He attained the rank of Colonel in 1819." None of Sir
Ralph's sons seem to have entered the army.
Arms of the Olivestob Hamiltons, registered by Colonel
Thomas Hamilton, in 1673 :
Gules, a martlet between three cinquefoils argent, within a
bordure embattled or. Crest : An antelope's head proper, gorged
and attired gules. Motto, " Invia virtuti pervia."
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