▶Date of birth:   1796       Place of birth: Dublin

▶Father:  Henry Hamilton     Mother:  Mary Wetherall

▶Spouse(s):  (1) Mary; (2) Frances Margaret Peters     Date(s) of marriage:  (1) (unknown); (2) 9 April 1840    Place(s) of marriage: (1) (unknown, probably Ireland); (2) Eastington, Stroud

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Church of Ireland); Army officer; Businessman; Landowner

▶Lifestory: The Cheltenham Annuaire lists a “Rev. W. Hamilton” residing at 1 Wellesley Villa in the year 1843. The Annuaire is not always accurate in its record of names, and in this case it seems to have confused the resident with a Revd. Henry Hamilton, recorded by the Cheltenham Looker-On as arriving at 2 Wellesley Villa (now Wellington House), Pittville  in 1842. Given the occupancy records of both houses in this semi-detached property, it is likely that the Revd. Henry Hamilton and his family moved into 1 Wellesley Villa in 1842 and remained there at least through part of 1843. This note will therefore concentrate on the Revd. Henry Hamilton.

The Revd. Henry Hamilton was born in Dublin in 1796 a younger son of Henry Hamilton Esq., of Ballymacoll, Co. Meath, and his wife Mary (née Wetherall); in the 1870s his nephew Major-General Thomas de Courcy Hamilton VC lived by the Pump Room at 3 Beaufort Villas (now Cleeve House and Homewood, West Approach Drive). Hamilton matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin in 1812, BA 1819, MA 1832; he was also admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1815. After university he was commissioned Ensign in the 85th Regiment of Light Infantry, but resigned his commission to pursue a career in the Church.

The Hamilton family had an extensive number of livings in their gift and in 1821 he was appointed Rector of Carlow; in the 1830s he supported the Conservative interest in Ireland  and by 1838 served as Rector of Thomastown, Kildare for twenty-eight years. His wife Mary died at Ballymacoll, Co. Meath in 1838. He was not always resident in Ireland: in 1840, a widower, he married Frances Margaret, eldest daughter of Ralph Peters, of Old Bridge Hall, Lancaster, at Eastington, Stroud, in Gloucestershire; they had at least three sons and three daughters. The couple then lived in the north for a few years, at Southport, and came to Cheltenham from Clifton by 1842, and in April 1843 they were recorded as officiating at a marriage at St Mary’s Church, Cheltenham. At the same time they also lived for some of their time outside Dublin, at De Vesci Terrace, Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire).

In 1851 they lived at Montagu Square in Marylebone (with a son and two daughters), and then latterly in Devonshire Place, London, where he resided at the time of his death. Hamilton died in 1874 at Blackheath, and was buried at Greenwich. His estate at death was recorded at under £30,000.

▶Moved to Pittville from: Clifton     Moved from Pittville to: (uncertain)

▶Date of death:  16 September 1874      Place of death: Blackheath

▶Date of burial:   21 September 1874      Place of burial: Greenwich

▶Notes: Alumni Dublinenses 1593-1860       ID: 8426

Contributor(s):  John Simpson