The Honourable George Hamilton (c. 1697 – 3 May 1775) was an Anglo-Irish politician and courtier, the second son of James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn.^[1]

George Hamilton was elected Member of Parliament for St Johnstown in the Irish House of Commons from 1727 to 1761, a single electoral term for a parliament that lasted the entire reign of King George II. This riding was controlled by only thirteen landowning non-Catholic voters, who were non-resident and cast their votes according to the direction of the plantation Corporation of St Johnstown, which was in the control of the Earl of Abercorn, and on the board of which George sat.^[2] The Hamiltons of Abercorn had lost control of this corporation by the time of the 1761 election.

Concurrently, he was elected as a Whig MP for Wells in the British House of Commons in the 1734 general election, but the electoral result was overturned upon petition by conservative politician George Speke, who was seated in his place on 25 March 1735. He was re-elected for Wells in the general election of 1747, serving until 1754.

On 6 July 1742, George was appointed Deputy-Cofferer in the household of Frederick, Prince of Wales,^[3] his sister Jane, Lady Archibald Hamilton, having been the prince’s mistress from 1736 to 1745. His brother Charles Hamilton, famous builder of Painshill Park, was also Clerk of the Household for the prince from 1738 to 1747. He served in this role until the prince’s premature death on 20 March 1751.

In his younger years, he served in the cavalry as a cornet. In October 1719, he married Bridget, the daughter of one William Coward who was himself a five-time MP for Wells. Coward was said to be a successful merchant in the Virginia trade from whom George inherited a substantial fortune, and a descendant of Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England.

George made his country home in Wells at 11 Chamberlain Street, the manor inherited from his father-in-law, for much of his adult life. He retired nearby to Bath^[4] where he was one of the original residents of the Royal Crescent and was celebrated for his love of planting.^[5] He and his wife died within four months of each other.^[6]

With Bridget, George had eleven legitimate children:

• Elizabeth (Hamilton) Cameron/de Fay (born 13 November 1720 in the City of Westminster, London^[7]) married John Cameron, a nephew of Lord Cameron of Lochiel, who rose to the rank of colonel in the service of the French Royal Army. Following his death, she remarried to a French nobleman, Comte de Fay from Amiens, where they lived until her death some years following the French revolution.^[1]
• Captain George Hamilton RN (28 September 1721 in Wells, Somerset^[8] to 18 April 1760 in Halifax, Nova Scotia^[9][10]) was a Royal Navy officer who first passed for Lieutenant on 16 July 1741.^[11] He served mainly onboard the 90-gun second-rate ship of the line HMS Duke^[12] until he was appointed to command the 10-gun sloop of war HMS Mediator upon its purchase by the Royal Navy. The ship was surrendered to the French privateer Naïade on the first day of a mission carrying dispatches during the War of Austrian Succession.^[9][13][14] Unlike the master of the vessel, Hamilton was spared court martial but was reverted in rank to midshipman. He was re-promoted to Lieutenant a year later on 25 October 1746 and was promoted Commander in command the 16-gun sloop HMS Porcupine on 21 August 1758. Upon arrival in the North America station the following month, he took command of the sixth-rate 20-gun HMS Squirrel, which played a key role at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham a year later.^[15] He was made Post-captain and took command of the new fifth-rate 32-gun HMS Richmond a week after the battle on 22 September 1759.^[9]
• Bridget (Hamilton) Finney (2 January 1723 in Wells, Somerset^[16] - 3 April 1789 in Alston, Knightsbridge^[1][17]), married the Reverend Thomas Finney on 7 Jan 1760 in Tiverton, Devon, England.^[18]
• Maria (Hamilton) Marsh/Beckford (7 January 1725 at Wells, Somerset^[19] - 22 July 1798 at Westend, Hampstead) married Francis Marsh on 17 August 1747 in Westminster,^[20] with whom she had a daughter Elizabeth. Following Marsh's death, she married the wealthy Jamaican sugar plantation magnate and politician William Beckford on 8 June 1756,^[21] who served as Lord Mayor of London and MP for the City of London. They had a son, the romantic novelist and builder William Beckford, who through his two parents was a descendant of every baron signatory to Magna Carta. She is buried at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire.
• The Venerable John Hamilton (22 April 1726 at Wells, Somerset^[22] – 12 August 1756 at Merrion Street, Dublin^[23]) studied at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1747.^[23] He was called to the priesthood and in 1754 was collated as Archdeacon of Raphoe in the Diocese of Raphoe near the Abercorn estates in Ulster.^[23]
• Colonel William Hamilton (10 September 1727 at Wells, Somerset^[24] - 11 July 1793 at Westminster^[25]), who was said to be at the time of his death "one of the oldest officers in His Majesty's service."^[26] He was commissioned into the 56th Regiment of Foot, which was shortly thereafter reranked as the 54th Regiment of Foot, when it was first raised at the outbreak of the Seven Years War in late 1755.^[27] He served with his regiment throughout the war in Gibraltar, cashing his commission some time in 1764. With the escalation of the American Revolutionary War, he joined the newly-formed 85th Regiment of Foot (Westminster Volunteers) at its formation in 1778 but transferred later that year to the 2nd Regiment of Foot.^[28] Shortly thereafter, he was simultaneously promoted to Major and then Lieutenant Colonel in a non-regimental appointment.^[29] This appointment to army staff appears to coincide with the promotion of John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, who had raised William's first regiment in 1755, to General. He was subsequently promoted to Colonel on 26 November 1782^[30] and appears to have sold his commission in the 2nd Foot effective 25 May 1787,^[31] but to have continued to serve in some non-regimental capacity until his death. His will indicates no wife or children, leaving his estate to the family of a close acquaintance of his at the Whitehall pay office.^[32]
• James Hamilton (d. 1779 or 1797).
• Harriet (Hamilton) Peter (died 1787), married the Rev. William Peter.
• Frances (Hamilton) Tooker (died 1752), married William Tooker, of Chilcompton, Somerset.
• Rachel (Hamilton) Walter, married the Rev. Neville Walter.
• Charlotte Hamilton, unmarried.

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}