Antoine Hamilton

Anthony Hamilton
Anthony Hamilton from NPG.jpg
Detail from the portrait below
Born1644 or 1645
Ireland, probably Nenagh
Died21 April 1719
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
FatherGeorge Hamilton, 1st Baronet
MotherMary Butler

Anthony Hamilton PC (Ire) (c. 1645 – 1719), also known as Antoine[a] and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, his parents brought him to France in 1651 when Cromwell's army overran Ireland.

At the Restoration the family moved to England and lived at Whitehall. When Catholics were excluded from the army, Anthony followed his brother George into French service and fought in the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). He was wounded in the Battle of Entzheim. After the accession of the Catholic James II in 1685, he joined the Irish Army and fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War (1689–1691). He saw action in the battles of Newtownbutler and the Boyne. The defeat led him to his last French exile.

In France Hamilton lived at the exile court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye where he became a courtier, poet, and writer. He chose French as his language and adopted a light and elegant style, seeking to amuse and entertain his reader. He wrote the Mémoires du Comte de Grammont, which focuses on the time his brother-in-law Philibert de Gramont spent at the court of Charles II. These memoirs are a classic of French literature and a source for the history of the Stuart Restoration. Hamilton also wrote many letters, poems, and five tales.

Family tree
Anthony Hamilton with parents and other selected relatives.[b] He never married.[4] His father is sometimes confused with his granduncle, George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea.[5]
Claud
1st Ld
Paisley

1546–1621
Margaret
Seton

d. 1616
Walter
11th Earl
Ormond

1559 – 1633
'Beads'
James
1st Earl

1575–1618
Marion
Boyd

d. 1632
Recusant
George
of Greenlaw
& Roscrea

d. bef. 1657
Thomas
Viscount
Thurles

d. 1619
James
2nd Earl

d. 1670
George
1st Baronet
Donalong

c. 1608 – 1679
Mary
Butler

d. 1680
James
1st Duke

1610–1688
James
c. 1630 – 1673
Courtier
d.v.p.*
Philibert de
Gramont

1621–1707
Elizabeth
1641–1708
Beauty
Anthony
c. 1645 – 1719
James
6th Earl

c. 1661 – 1734
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article
XXXEarls of
Abercorn
XXXEarls and Dukes
of Ormond
*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)


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