Richard Hamilton (officer)

Richard was born about 1649,[lower-alpha 2] in Ireland, before his family fled to France in 1651 during the Cromwellian Conquest.[3][4] 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[5] and was a would-be baronet.[6][7][lower-alpha 3]

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,[8] marquess of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[9] Her family, the Butlers, were Old English.[10]

His place of birth and the date of his parents marriage are affected by errors caused by confusing his father with his granduncle, George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea. Both are called George, and both married a Mary Butler. Richard's place of birth probably is Nenagh, County Tipperary.[lower-alpha 4] Hamilton's parents had married in 1635, despite earlier dates reported in error due to the mistaken identity.[12][lower-alpha 5]

Richard was one of nine siblings.[13] See James, George, Elizabeth, Anthony, and John.[lower-alpha 6] Richard's parents were both Catholic,[lower-alpha 7] and so was he.[14]

Richard's father was a soldier in the Irish army and fought for the royalists under his uncle James Butler, the Earl of Ormond, in the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1648) and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-1653) until early in 1651, when his family followed Ormond into French exile.[3] They went to Caen, Normandy,[15] where they were accommodated for some time by Elizabeth Preston, the Marchioness of Ormond. Lady Ormond with her children left for England in August 1652,[16] whereas Richard's mother moved to Paris, where she lived in the Convent of the Feuillantines.[17]

In May 1660 the Restoration brought Charles II on the English throne.[18] Richard's father and his elder sons moved to the court at Whitehall.[19] Charles II restored Donalong, Ulster, to Hamilton's father.[20] About that year Charles allegedly created Hamilton's father baronet of Donalong and Nenagh,[lower-alpha 3] but the king, if he really went that far, refused to go further because the family was Catholic.[21]

Richard's elder brothers, James and George, became courtiers at Whitehall.[22] In 1661 the King helped to arrange a Protestant marriage for James.[23][24][25] Early in 1661 Richard's father also brought his wife and younger children to London,[26] where they lived for some time all together in a house near Whitehall.[27]

Wanting to be a soldier and unable to take the oath of supremacy, obligatory in the English army, Richard followed the example of his elder brothers George and Anthony and went into French service. In 1671 he was commissioned into the regiment that George had raised. This regiment fought for France in the Franco-Dutch war (1672–1678). He must have fought with George under Turenne in the battles of Sinsheim in June 1674, and Entzheim in October.[28] At Entzheim his brothers George and Anthony were wounded.[29] George's and Anthony's wounds and the voyage to England, described below, undertaken by the three brothers, caused them to miss Turenne's winter campaign 1674/1675, during which the French marched south and surprised the Imperialists by launching a surprise attack on Upper Alsace, which culminated in Turennes's victory at the Battle of Turckheim on 5 January 1675.[30]

In March 1675 Richard visited England with his elder brothers George and Anthony. George returned to France from England, but Anthony and Richard continued to Ireland to recruit for the regiment.[31] The recruits were picked up by French ships at Kinsale in April[32] after a missed appointment at Dingle in March.[33]

Richard's voyage caused him to miss Turenne's winter campaign in which the French marched south and surprised the Germans in upper Alsace, beating them at Turckheim in January 1675.[30] George was there.[34]

In 1676 George was killed in a rearguard action at the Col de Saverne.[35][36] Thomas Dongan became colonel and Richard lieutenant-colonel.[37]

In 1678 Richard succeeded Thomas Dongan as the regiment's colonel, but the unit was disbanded later that year. He then joined a French regiment that he commanded for over six years. This seems to have been the Roussillon Regiment, according to a remark in a letter from Louvois to d'Avaux.[38]

Either Anthony or Richard played one of six zephyrs in the performance of Quinault's ballet the Triomphe de l'Amour, to music by Lully, on 21 January 1681 at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye before the king.[39][40][41][42] In the War of the Reunions (1683–1684), Richard commanded the Altmünster sector in the Siege of Luxembourg in 1684 under Maréchal de Créquy.[43]

In March 1685 he was obliged to leave France after a bitter disagreement with Louvois, the minister of war, over the state of his regiment and a brawl with the Marquis d'Alincourt over the Princess de Conti, Louis XIV's recently widowed daughter.[44] Having sold his regiment a few days before, Hamilton took leave of the king on 16 March left for England.[45]

Having returned to England, James II made Hamilton a colonel of a regiment of dragoons of the Irish Army on 20 June 1685.[46] He was promoted to brigadier in April 1686, making him the third most senior officer of the Irish Army after Tyrconnell and Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel.[47] In May 1686 he was appointed to the privy council of Ireland. He went to England with the Irish troops that Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, viceroy (Lord Lieutenant) of Ireland, sent to help James when the king's position became precarious in the build-up to the Glorious Revolution and was promoted to major-general on 12 November 1688.[48] These troops should have helped to defend the English south against the imminent Dutch invasion. They caused the Irish Fright in December 1688. They surrendered to the Prince of Orange and were disbanded after James's flight.[49] Richard Hamilton was jailed at the Tower of London.[50]

William, the Prince of Orange, wanted to bring Ireland around to his side by proposing favourable terms to Tyrconnell. He thought to have found a suitable messenger in Richard Hamilton. He freed him from the Tower and sent him to Ireland on parole. Hamilton landed in Ireland in January 1689 and met Tyrconnell in Dublin. However, instead of trying to convince the viceroy to accept William's offer, Hamilton joined the Jacobites and urged Tyrconnell to reject William's terms.[51] An investigation into his hehaviour later found a witness who had observed Hamilton in a tavern in Ringsend near Dublin just after Hamilton had landed in Ireland. This witness reported that Hamilton had laughed loudly and had boasted how well he had deceived the Prince of Orange.[52]

Tyrconnell promoted him to lieutenant-general and sent him to Ulster at the head of a force of 2500 to put down the Protestant rebellion there. He in effect routed Sir Arthur Rawdon's Protestant Army of the North in the battle called the Break of Dromore on 14 March 1689 in County Down and then continued northwards into County Antrim where he raided Antrim Castle and took Viscount Massereene's silverware and furniture to a value of about £3000, a considerable amount at the time.[53]

He then marched on to Coleraine, which he reached on 27 March.[54] In the meantime James II had landed in Ireland (on 12 March) and had sent Lieutenant-General de Rosen, the French commander-in-chief, up north with an army. The two armies linked up near Strabane on the march to Derry. The commanders were both lieutenant-generals, but de Rosen had been appointed Marshal of Ireland for the duration of the campaign. Nevertheless, Hamilton did not want to submit to de Rosen. Lundy, the governor of Derry tried to defend the so-called fords along the River Finn south of the city. On 15 April 1689 Richard Hamilton attacked at Clady. The Duke of Berwick was with him.[55] De Rosen broke through the enemy's line of defence in a separate action near Lifford. Lundy fled to the city.[56]

The siege of the town began on 18 April. James and de Rosen returned to Dublin and left Lieutenant-General Jacques de Fontanges, comte de Maumont,[57] in command. However, Maumont was killed during a sally on 21 April and the command devolved to Hamilton, who lacked experience in sieges. De Rosen came back from Dublin to Derry in June. The siege was finally abandoned after 105 days on 31 July 1689. Richard Hamilton retreated with the army southwards.

At the Battle of the Boyne, in July 1690, Hamilton commanded the centre of the Irish army, defending the ford at Oldbridge.[58] Late in the battle he was wounded and taken prisoner.[59][60] He was interrogated by William, who asked him whether his men would continue to fight. Hamilton answered "On my honour, Sir, I believe that they will". Thereupon William twice muttered "Your honour!", reminding him of his broken parole.[61][62] Hamilton was detained as a prisoner of war for about two years, first in Dublin, then at Chester Castle, and finally at the Tower of London.

In April 1692 Hamilton eventually was freed by being exchanged for Lord Mountjoy.[63][64] Having arrived in France he went to Versailles to thank Louis XIV for his liberation.[65]

He took service in King James's exile army. In 1692 he served as lieutenant general under Marshal Bellefonds in the forces that assembled at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and should have been carried over the Channel by the French Fleet to land on the Isle of Portland and march on London from there. However, that fleet was intercepted by the English and Dutch and defeated in several actions at Barfleur and La Hougue between 19 and 24 May 1692, after which the invasion had to be cancelled.

In 1696 he became James's master of the robes in addition to lieutenant-general.[66] He lost his employment as soldier when King James's force was dissolved after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, in which France recognised William III as the rightful King of England. James II died in 1701 at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was succeeded by his son James Francis Edward Stuart, called James III or the Old Pretender. Louis XIV recognised him as James III of England.

In March 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), he was involved in an attempt to invade Scotland led by James III.[67] Hamilton was among the about 6000 troops that were assembled at Dunkirk and which comprised six French regiments and the Irish Brigade. These troops were transported by a French fleet commanded by Admiral Claude de Forbin and consisting of 5 men-of-war, two transports and 20 frigates, many of which were Dunkirk privateers. They sailed from Dunkirk up to the Firth of Forth intending to land near Edinburgh, but a stronger British fleet under Admiral George Byng caught up with them. They had to abandon the landing, but Forbin outmaneuvered the British, escaped northwards, and brought the invasion force safely back to Dunkirk by sailing around Scotland and Ireland.

In 1713, Hamilton was implicated in a scandal in which he had plotted to usurp Lord Middleton's position as James's secretary of state. He was chased from James III's court and went to live with his niece Marie-Elisabeth de Gramont, daughter of his sister Elizabeth, Countess de Gramont, at Poussay in the Duchy of Lorraine, at that time still part of the Empire. Marie-Elisabeth was a canoness of the Chapter of Poussay, where she had been elected abbess in 1695.[68] He died in Poussay in December 1717.[69][70][71]