William Gerard Hamilton - Misplaced Pages

18th-century Anglo-Irish politician

The Right HonourableWilliam Gerard HamiltonPC (Ire)


Member of Parliament
In office 1754–1796
Constituency	Haslemere (1790–1796) Wilton (1780–1790) Wareham (1774–1780) Old Sarum (1768–1774) Pontefract (1761–1768) Petersfield (1754–1761)
Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland
In office 1763–1784
Preceded by	Lord Yorke
Succeeded by	John Foster
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office 1761–1764
Member of Parliament for Killybegs
In office 1761–1768

Personal details
Born	28 January 1729 London, Great Britain
Died	16 July 1796 (aged 67) London, Great Britain
Resting place	St Martin-in-the-Fields, City of Westminster, London
Education	Winchester College
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford

William Gerard Hamilton (28 January 1729 – 16 July 1796), was an English statesman and Irish politician, popularly known as "Single Speech Hamilton".

Biography

He was born in London, the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and succeeded his father in 1754. He was educated at Winchester, Lincoln's Inn and Oriel College, Oxford. With his father's fortune he entered political life and became Member of Parliament for Petersfield in Hampshire. His maiden speech, delivered on 13 November 1755, during the debate on the address, which excited Horace Walpole's admiration, is generally supposed to have been his only effort in the House of Commons. But the nickname "Single Speech" is undoubtedly misleading, and Hamilton is known to have spoken with success on other occasions, both in the House of Commons and in the Irish parliament.

Political offices

In 1756 he was appointed one of the commissioners for trade and plantations, and in 1761 he became chief secretary to Lord Halifax, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as well as MP of the Irish House of Commons for Killybegs (until 1768) and English MP for Pontefract.

He was appointed Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1763, and subsequently filled various other administrative offices. Hamilton was thought very highly of by Samuel Johnson, and it is certain that he was strongly opposed to the British taxation of America. He was close to the Prince Regent, serving as a trusted adviser. In 1784 he exchanged his office as Chancellor of the Exchequer for a pension of £2,000 p.a. Hamilton had held the office for over 20 years, although had treated the role as a largely ceremonial position. He was succeeded by John Foster, who went on to bring in changes credited with greatly boosting the rural Irish economy.

Ill health and death

He suffered from a severe paralytic stroke in the winter of 1791–92. This had not been his first, and by August 1792 he remained in a poor state. On 4 March 1793 he received a leave of absence from the House of Commons due to his ill health. He died in London on 16 July 1796, and was buried in the chancel vault of St Martins-in-the-Fields. His death came "just in time to save him from absolute poverty." He was unmarried.

Two of his speeches in the Irish House of Commons, and some other miscellaneous works—including previously unpublished notes on the Corn Laws by Johnson—were published by Edmond Malone after his death under the title Parliamentary Logick.

References

Notes

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hamilton, William Gerard". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 890.
Martin, Peter (2005). Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar: A Literary Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61982-3.

External links

William Gerard Hamilton at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded byHenry Gore Francis Pierpoint Burton	Member of Parliament for Killybegs 1761–1768 With: Richard Jones	Succeeded byHenry Hamilton Thomas Allan
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded byJohn Jolliffe William Conolly	Member of Parliament for Petersfield 1754–1761 With: John Jolliffe 1754 William Beckford 1754 Sir John Philipps 1754–1761	Succeeded byJohn Jolliffe Richard Pennant
Preceded bySambrooke Freeman The Viscount Galway	Member of Parliament for Pontefract 1761–1768 With: The Viscount Galway	Succeeded byThe Viscount Galway Sir Rowland Winn
Preceded byHowell Gwynne Thomas Pitt	Member of Parliament for Old Sarum 1768–1774 With: John Craufurd	Succeeded byPinckney Wilkinson Thomas Pitt
Preceded byRobert Palk Thomas de Grey	Member of Parliament for Wareham 1774–1780 With: Christopher D'Oyly	Succeeded byJohn Boyd Thomas Farrer
Preceded byHenry Herbert Charles Herbert	Member of Parliament for Wilton 1780–1790 With: Lord Herbert 1780–1785, 1788–1790 Philip Goldsworthy 1785–1788	Succeeded byLord Herbert The Viscount FitzWilliam
Preceded byJohn Baynes-Garforth John Lowther	Member of Parliament for Haslemere 1790–1796 With: James Lowther 1790 Richard Penn 1790–1791 James Clarke Satterthwaite 1791–1796	Succeeded byJames Clarke Satterthwaite James Lowther
Political offices
Preceded byRichard Rigby	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1761–1764	Succeeded byThe Earl of Drogheda
Preceded bySir William Yorke	Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland 1763–1784	Succeeded byJohn Foster

v t e Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland
Walter de Thornbury John de Hotham Nicholas de Balscote Adam de Harvington Thomas de Montpellier Thomas de Brayles Robert le Poer William de Bromley Robert de Emeldon John de Pembroke Thomas Bache William Fitzwilliam John de Troye Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston Hugh Banent Robert Dyke Sampson d"Artois James Blakeney Robert Norreys Robert St Lawrence, 3rd Baron Howth Walter Ivers Edward Barnewall Patrick Bermingham Richard Delahide John Alan Thomas Cusack Henry Draycott Robert Dillon John Bathe Sir Edward Waterhouse George Clive Thomas Molyneux Sir Richard Cooke Dudley Norton Henry Holcroft Thomas Hibbotts Henry Holcroft Sir Robert Meredyth Richard Jones Sir Charles Meredyth Bruno Talbot Philip Savage Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet Henry Boyle Marmaduke Coghill Henry Boyle Arthur Hill Henry Boyle Anthony Malone Sir William Yorke, 1st Baronet William Gerard Hamilton John Foster Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet Isaac Corry John Foster Sir John Newport, 1st Baronet John Foster William Wellesley-Pole William Vesey-FitzGerald Nicholas Vansittart

Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland

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