Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne

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Gustavus Hamilton
Viscount Boyne
A painted portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne, showing a clean-shaven young man with long hair or such a wig, wearing a tricorn hat with lace endants. A white Venetion bauta mask is positioned over his left ear ready to be brought forward to hide his face.
Tenure1723–1746
PredecessorGustavus, 1st Viscount Boyne
SuccessorFrederick, 3rd Viscount Boyne
Born1710
Died18 April 1746
FatherFrederick Hamilton
MotherSophia Hamilton

Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne PC (Ire) (1710–1746) was an Irish politician and an enthusiastic admirer of Italy and the Carnival of Venice.

Birth and origins[]

Gustavus was born in 1710,[1] probably in Ireland. He was the eldest son of Frederick Hamilton and his wife Sophia Hamilton. His grandfather was Major-General Gustavus Hamilton who would soon become Viscount Boyne. His father was the eldest son and heir apparent but would predecease his grandfather. His paternal family was a Protestant cadet branch of the Catholic Earls of Abercorns, who in turn descended from the Scottish Clan Hamilton. Gustavus's mother was a daughter of James Hamilton of Tollymore, near Newcastle, County Down. His parents had married on 1 September 1707.[2]

Family tree
Gustavus Hamilton with parents, and other selected relatives.[a] He never married.
Frederick
1590–1647
Sidney
Vaughan
Christiana
b. c. 1629
Frederick
d. bef. 1646
James of
Manor-
hamilton

d. 1652
Gustavus
1st
Viscount

1642–1723
Elizabeth
Brooke

d. 1721
Frederick
c. 1663 – 1715
d.v.p.*
Sophia
Hamilton

d. 1748
Gustavus
c. 1685 –
1735
Dorothea
Bellew
Henry
c. 1692 –
1743
Gustavus
2nd
Viscount

1710–1746
Frederick
3rd
Viscount

1718–1772
Richard
4th
Viscount

1724–1789
Georgiana
Bury
Gustavus
5th
Viscount

1749–1816
Martha
Somerville
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article
XXXViscounts
Boyne
*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)

Career[]

On 20 October 1715 King George I ennobled his grandfather as Baron Stackallan. His father was from then on styled the Honourable Frederick Hamilton, being the son of a peer. His father enjoyed this honour for less than two months as he unexpectedly died on 10 December 1715. This made young Gustavus heir apparent at the age of five. After his father's death, his mother took him to London and sent him to Westminster School.[4] On 20  August 1717 his grandfather was advanced to Viscount Boyne and young Gustavus was styled Baron Hamilton of Stackallan as courtesy title. In 1723, aged 13, he succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Viscount Boyne.[5] In 1736, Boyne, as he now was, was sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland. In 1737, he was appointed a commissioner of the Irish Revenue, a post that he would hold until his death in 1746.[6]

His Irish viscountcy did not disqualify him from sitting in the British House of Commons. In 1736 he won the by-election to succeeded William Fortescue in one of the two seats of Newport, Isle of Wight, of the and sat as Member of Parliament for this constituency until the end of the parliament in 1741.

Private life[]

Boyne and friends (Sir Francis Dashwood, the Earl of Carlisle and Lord Middlesex) in a ship's cabin while sailing from Venice to Lisbon, by Bartolomeo Nazari, c. 1731–1732.

From January to March 1730, Boyne and Edward Walpole were in Venice enjoying the pleasures of the carnival. Immediately after their trip, Walpole, the younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, entered Parliament as Member for Lostwithiel in a by-election on 29 April 1730, following the death of Sir Edward Knatchbull. Boyne, however, travelled to Venice again the following winter.

In 1734, Boyne was a founder-member of the Society of Dilettanti, a group of Englishmen who made the Grand Tour and met to discuss, and to exert their influence on, matters of taste in London. Other members of the Society included his "particular friend, the notorious rake" Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer.[7]

Painted portrait of a clean-shaven young man wearing a tricorne hat
Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne in masquerade costume painted by Rosalba Carriera about 1730.

Death and timeline[]

Boyne died unmarried on 18[8] or 20 April 1746 and was buried at . His cousin succeeded to the viscountcy.[9]

See also[]

Notes, citations, and sources[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ This family tree is partly derived from the Abercorn pedigree pictured in Cokayne.[3] Also see the lists of siblings and in the text.

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b Cokayne 1912, p. 267, line 9: "He [Gustavus] was b. 1710."
  2. ^ Burke & Burke 1909, p. 259, left column, line 21: "Frederick, m. [married] 1 September 1707, Sophia, sister of the 1st Earl of Clanbrassil and dau. [daughter] of James Hamilton, of Tollymore."
  3. ^ Cokayne 1910, p. 4: "Tabular pedigree of the Earls of Abercorn"
  4. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 179, line 14: "Gustavus, the second Viscount Boyne, born in 1710, was taken by his mother to London, upon his father's decease, who placed him at Westminster-school and provided fit tutors for his instruction ..."
  5. ^ a b Debrett 1828, p. 765 line 35: "The viscount d. 16 Sept. 17123 and was succeeded by his grandson Gustavus, 2nd Viscount ..."
  6. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 179, line 26: "In August 1736 he was sworn of the privy council; and in June 1737 appointed a commissioner of the revenue; his Lordship made his will 5 April 1746 and died unmarried 18 of that month ..."
  7. ^ "Portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, 2nd Viscount Boyne". www.philamuseum.org. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b Burke & Burke 1909, p. 259, right column, line 67: "... [Gustavus] d. [died] unm. [unmarried] 18 April, 1746 ..."
  9. ^ a b Debrett 1828, p. 765 line 37: "Gustavus, 2d viscount, b. 1710, d unm., 20 April 1746 and was succeeded by his cousin, Frederick, 3d viscount ..."
  10. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 45, line 38: "George I … acc. 1 Aug. 1714;"
  11. ^ Cokayne 1912, p. 266, line 34: "He was on 20 October 1715, cr. [created] Baron Hamilton of Stackallan [I. [Ireland]]."
  12. ^ Cokayne 1912, p. 267: "... [Frederick] d. v.p. 10 Dec. 1715."
  13. ^ Cokayne 1912, p. 266, line 35: "... was cr. [created] on 20 Aug. 1717, Viscount Boyne in the province of Leinster [I. [Ireland]]."
  14. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 46, line 11: "George II … acc. 11 Jun. 1727;"

Sources[]

External links[]

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for
Newport (Isle of Wight)

1736–1741
With: George Huxley
Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Viscount Boyne
1723–1746
Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""