Charles Stuart FitzRoy Douglas-Hamilton James

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Hamilton James
2nd Comte d'Arran
PredecessorCharles Hamilton
SuccessorWilliam James
Born(1738-07-16)16 July 1738
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died9 April 1800(1800-04-09) (aged 61)
Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
Noble familyDouglas-Hamilton
Spouse(s)Catherine Napier
IssueLt. Col Sir William James
Anne James
FatherCharles Hamilton, Count of Arran
MotherAntoinette Courtney
OccupationSoldier and Author


Charles Stuart FitzRoy Douglas-Hamilton James (16 July 1738 - 9 April 1800), titled Count of Arran from 1754 onwards, was son of Charles Hamilton, Count of Arran and his wife Antoinette Courtney.[1] His paternal grandparents were James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and his mistress Lady Barbara FitzRoy. His great grandparents through his paternal grandmother were therefore Charles II of England and his mistress Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland.[2] Through his mother he was a descendant of the Courtenay family of Devon.

Early life[]

Born in Edinburgh, he spent the majority of his childhood in France and Switzerland.[1] Christened with the surname of James rather than Hamilton, although the reason for this is unknown it has been assumed that after his father was sent out to France on the upcoming marriage of the Earl of Arran to Elizabeth Gerrard he was sufficiently insulted by this to remove his family name. However, given that the surname was his father's first name there is an element of continuity with his old family especially considering the additional names of Stuart, FitzRoy and particularly Douglas-Hamilton.[3]

Military career[]

Charles joined the British East India Company and rose to the rank of Captain. He subsequently commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.[1][4] He served in the Seven Years' War and later in the Low Countries with his regiment culminating in the Flanders campaign.[5]

Title[]

The title the Count of Arran was held by Charles' father however whether it was inherited by Charles or not is another matter, chiefly because it is unsure as to whether or not it was a genuine title or an assumed one while he was in France. The title is a reference to the Earldom of Arran, the subsidiary title of the Dukes of Hamilton, his grandfather's family. There is a strong possibility that it was a genuine title bearing in mind his father was from exceptional lineage and even related to the Kings of France. Through his father's Great-Grandmother Henrietta Maria of France, Louis XIV would have been his father's First Cousin once-removed and Louis XV his Second Cousin, twice removed. Therefore with this close relationship between his father and the Kings of France the strong likelihood is that it was a genuine title, although there is little evidence to prove this.[1] If it was a genuine title then his male line descendants would be entitled to be styled Comte d'Arran, and subsequently Charles himself.[6] So whether or not he was indeed the 2nd Comte d'Arran is debatable but the likelihood is that he was, whether he actually styled himself as such or not. Therefore, he would have been Lt Col Charles Stuart FitzRoy Douglas-Hamilton James, 2nd Comte d'Arran.

Issue[]

Charles married married Catherine Napier, daughter of Sir Gerrard Napier, 5th Baronet of Middle March on 15 June 1760 and had two children:[1][7]

  • Lt. Col Sir William James, 3rd Comte d'Arran, (20 May 1777 - 5 December 1820), married firstly Caroline Gordon, daughter of Hon. Lockhart Gordon (son of the 3rd Earl of Aboyne) and Hon. Catherine Wallop (daughter of Lord Lymington) on 3 May 1798, married secondly Lady Henrietta Montagu, daughter of John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich and had issue by both wives.
    • Col. Sir Philip Charles William FitzRoy James, 4th Comte d'Arran (14 Mar 1801 - Jul 1871), married Susan Georgiana Ryder, daughter of Hon. Granville Dudley Ryder and Lady Georgiana Augusta Somerset, daughter of the 6th Duke of Beaufort.
    • Maria James (1818 - 17 Aug 1899), married on 17 July 1876
  • Anne James married Sir St. Andrew St. John and had issue.
    • Sir Paulet Andrew St. John

Literary Work[]

Charles went on to publish a book written by his father, Transactions during the Reign of Queen Anne, from the Union to the Death of that Princess in 1790. He also wrote books of his own, The Patriot; Tragedy, altered from the Italian of Metastasio an eight volume set in 1784, An Historical Relation of the Origin, Progress, and Final Dissolution of the Government of the Rohilla Afghans, in the Northern Provinces of Hindustan, compiled from a Persian Man, and the original papers another eight volume set in 1787 and finally Hedaya, or Guide; a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws, translated by order of the Governor-General and Council of Bengal a four volume set published in 1791. He published all of these books under the name Charles Hamilton.[1][4]

Ancestry[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f William Anderson (1877). The Scottish nation; or, the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours and Biographical History of the People of Scotland by William Anderson. p. 421.
  2. ^ John Anderson (1825). Historical and genealogical memoirs of the house of Hamilton.
  3. ^ Margaret Mary Pearson (1956). Bright Tapestry. Harrap. p. 22.
  4. ^ a b "Hamilton, Charles, styled count of Arran | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". www.oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  5. ^ Charles Grant and Michael Youens (1972). Royal Scots Greys. p. 9.
  6. ^ Sir James Balfour (1904). The Scots Peerage: founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's The Peerage of Scotland: Volume I. David Douglas. p. 32.
  7. ^ Charles Mosley (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. p. 3484.

External links[]

http://thepeerage.com/p56918.htm#i569173

Retrieved from ""