Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton PC (Ire) ( – 1717) was an officer in the French and the Irish army. In France he fought in the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678) under Turenne and in the War of the Reunions (1683–1684) at the Siege of Luxembourg. In Ireland he fought for James II during the Williamite War, rising to the rank of lieutenant-general. He defeated the Protestants of Ulster at the Break of Dromore and the Cladyford in 1689. Later that year he commanded during part of the Siege of Derry. In 1690 he fought bravely at the Battle of the Boyne, where he was taken prisoner. In 1692 he was exchanged for Lord Mountjoy and joined the exile court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. Hamilton died in French exile. Birth and origins Richard was born about 1649, in Ireland, before his family fled to France in 1651 during the Cromwellian Conquest. He was the fifth son of George Hamilton and his wife Mary Butler. His father was Scottish, the fourth son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn. His father supported the Marquess of Ormond in the Irish Confederate War and the Cromwellian conquest and was a would-be baronet. Richard's mother was Irish, the third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (courtesy title), who predeceased his father, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and therefore never succeeded to the earldom. She also was a sister of James Butler, marquess of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Her family, the Butlers, were Old English.