CHAPTER XXIII
RECORD OF MILITARY SERVICES
The record of the military services of
some of the descendants of the Rev. Nicholas Hamilton, the son of the Rev.
Gustavus Hamilton is remarkable.
These services commenced in the year 1776
and have continued during seven successive generations. Three of his sons – John, James Mathew, and Charles
Frederick; and four of his grandsons – the sons of John Hamilton – Nicholas,
John Spring, William and James Bunbury Hamilton served in the 5th
Foot (Northumberland Fusiliers).
In the year 1809, John Hamilton,
who was known in the family as "Handsome Jack," and his four sons
were all in that regiment at the same time [1],
and all served in the Peninsular War.
Captain John and his sons Nicholas and William took part in the Battle
of Rolica, Vimeira and Corunna and John Spring Hamilton in Nivelle, Vittoria
and Salamanca; and James Bunbury in Salamanca.
Captain John had served in the American War of Independence and was
taken prisoner. His son John Spring was
taken prisoner after Salamanca, and was detained by the French at Verdun until
the peace of 1814. Besides the four
sons of Captain John already mentioned, his younger son, Thomas Talbot, was
also in the army, having entered the 19th Foot in 1813. The only son of Captain John who was not a
soldier was the Rev. Richard Hamilton. He
had no son, but his grandsons – Walter Alfred Hamilton Grimshaw, and Edmund
Ussher Grimshaw are or have lately been in the army.
The most distinguished of Capt. John's
sons was Nicholas, who eventually in 1851, after more than half a century of
service, attained the rank of Major General.
All the sons and grandsons of General
Nicholas adopted a military calling, and a great-grandson of his – Hugh W. R.
Hamilton – served in the Royal Engineers in Mesopotamia in the force which
re-captured Kut-el-Amara, where his father, a grandson of the General's.
Brigadier-General William George Hamilton, D.S.O., C.B., C.S.I., was taken
prisoner in 1916 and only released in November 1918.
Another grandson of General Nicholas',
Lieut-Col. Archibald Samuel Hamilton, while commanding the 14th
Batt. of the Durham Light Infantry, received wounds in action on Hill 70 in
Flanders on September 26th 1915, from which he died on October 13th 1915, and his brother,
Brigadier-General Alexander Beamish
Hamilton, C.B., died in January 1919, from illness contracted on active service
in the Great War.
The only son of John Spring Hamilton, Charles
Pratt Hamilton, and two sons of the latter, John Butler Hamilton and
Charles James Hamilton, also followed the same profession. Two great-grandsons of Charles Pratt
Hamilton, Cuthbert John Hamilton Clibborn and Cecil Hamilton Clibborn, were
likewise in the army; the former was killed in action in France on December 14th
1915, and the latter died of wounds on April 10th 1916; while a third
great-grandson of his, Derek Percy Cox, who served in the Royal Flying Corps,
was killed in a bombing expedition over Germany on 21st August 1917.
[2] A fourth great-grandson, John Eric Vivian
Colclough Hamilton served with 4th Batt Worcester Regt. in
Gallipoli, wounded Nov 1915. Also
served as Pilot in 45 Squadron in France 1916-17; wounded Dec 1917. Also served in 2nd World war with
R.A.F. and R.C.A.F.
A fifth great-grandson, Hubert John
Douglas Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1934, and served in the Royal
Indian Navy during the 2nd World War. His son Colin Fendall
Butler Hamilton served in the Royal Navy from 1962-1999 and participated in
The Falklands War 1982, the Gulf War 1991 and the Balkans War (Former
Yugoslavia) 1992-94.
A sixth great-grandson, Denis Nigel Alex
Butler Hamilton served with the East African Forces in the 2nd World
War, 1939-1945.
A great, great grandson (of Charles
Pratt Hamilton), John Colclough, Commander R.N., served in the 2nd
World War.