James Hamilton, 3rd Baron Hamilton of Strabane

James was born in 1633{{Sfn|Paul|1904|p=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/50/ 50, line 26]|ps=. "James, titled Lord Strabane, born in 1633 ..."}} probably at Strabane Castle, as the eldest son of Claude Hamilton and his wife Jean Gordon. His father was the 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, a member of the Strabane cadet branch of the Abercorns. James's mother was the fourth daughter of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly. His parents had married in 1632.{{Sfn|Paul|1904|p=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/50/ 50, line 8]|ps=. "He [George Hamilton] married, 28 November 1632, Lady Jean Gordon, fourth daughter of George, first Marquess of Huntly, by Lady Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Esme, first Duke of Lennox;"}} James had one brother and two sister, which are listed in his father's article.

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{{Tree chart|Txt|Txt=James Hamilton with parents and other selected relatives.{{Efn|This family tree is partly derived from the Abercorn pedigree pictured in Cokayne.{{Sfn|Cokayne|1910|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo01coka/page/4/ 4]|ps=. "Tabular pedigree of the Earls of Abercorn"}}}} He never married.|boxstyle_Txt=border: 0 solid white; text-align: left;}}

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{{Tree chart| | | |JmsA1|y| Mrn |boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|JmsA1=James
1st Earl
1575–1618|boxstyle_JmsA1=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|Mrn=Marion
Boyd
d. 1632
Recusant}}

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{{Tree chart|JmsA2| |CldS2|y|JenGd|y|Phelm| |GrgHm|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|CldS2=Claud
2nd Baron
d. 1638|boxstyle_CldS2=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|JmsA2=James
2nd Earl
d. 1670|boxstyle_JmsA2=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|JenGd=Jean
Gordon

|Phelm=Phelim
O'Neill
d. 1653|boxstyle_Phelm=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;background: wheat;

|GrgHm=George
1st Bt.
Donalong
d. 1679}}

{{Tree chart| |!| | | |,|-|^|-|.| |`|-|.| | | |!| }}

{{Tree chart|GrgA3| |Sbjct| |GrgS4| |Gordn| |JmsHm|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|GrgA3=George
3rd Earl
c. 1636 –
bef. 1683|boxstyle_GrgA3=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|Sbjct=James
3rd Baron
1633–1655|boxstyle_Sbjct=border: 2px solid red; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|GrgS4=George
4th Baron
1636/7 – 1668|boxstyle_GrgS4=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: lavender;

|Gordn=Gordon
O'Neill|boxstyle_Gordn=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;background: wheat;

|JmsHm=James
c. 1630–
1673}}

{{Tree chart| | | | |,|-|-|-|v|'| | |,|-|-|-|-|'}}

{{Tree chart| | | |CldA4| |ChrA5| |JmsA6|y|ElR|boxstyle=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em;

|CldA4=Claud
4th Earl
1659–1691|boxstyle_CldA4=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|ChrA5=Charles
5th Earl
d. 1701|boxstyle_ChrA5=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|JmsA6=James
6th Earl
c. 1661 – 1734|boxstyle_JmsA6=border-width: 1px; border-radius: 0.5em; background: beige;

|ElR=Elizabeth
Reading
d. 1754}}

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|SbjBx=XXX|boxstyle_SbjBx=border: 2px solid red; border-radius: 0.5em; color: white;

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|Bk3Tx=O'Neills|boxstyle_Bk3Tx=border: 0 solid white; text-align: left;}}

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Hamilton succeeded his father in 1638 at the age of about five.{{Sfn|Paul|1904|p=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/50/ 50]|ps=. "Dying 14 June 1638, he was buried in the church of Leckpatrick, County Tyrone."}} His mother ran the family estate for the yond Lord Strabane, as he was now, and they continued to live in the Castle of Strabane.

In 1641, when Strabane was about eight years old, the Irish Rebellion broke out. The rebel leader Phelim O'Neill captured and burnt Strabane Castle and took him, his mother, and his siblings captive.{{Sfn|Paul|1904|p=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/50/ 50, line 12]|ps=. "[Jean] who was taken prisoner by Sir Phelim O'Neile, in the rebellion of 1641, when he burned and destroyed the castle of Strabane, but whom she afterwards married ..."}} Phelim brought them to his castle in Kinard but released them after a few days and sent them to "Sir George Hamilton".{{Sfn|Graham|1841|p=[https://archive.org/details/irelandpreserve00ashtgoog/page/n300/ 277]|ps=. "He carried the unfortunate lady to his castle at Kinnaird, where he kept her two or three days, and then sent her to Sir George Hamilton ..."}} This could have been Sir George of Donalong or his great-uncle Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea.

In 1649, when he was about 16, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Strabane Castle was attacked again, this time by Robert Monro and his Covenanter army. The castle was relieved by Phelim O'Neill, its previous attacker.{{Sfn|Webb|1878|p=[https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog/page/n425/ 417, line 51]|ps=. "He had just before relieved her castle of Strabane, attacked by Monro."}} Phelim married his mother in November.{{Sfn|Webb|1878|p=[https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog/page/n425/ 417, line 48]|ps=. "In November 1649 he [Felim] married Lady Jane Gordon a daughter of the Marquis of Huntly and the widow of Lord Strabane."}} Phelim became his stepfather and his half-brother Gordon O'Neill was born.

In 1649 Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland with the Parliamentarian forces. On 21 June 1650 the Confederate Ulster Army lost the Battle of Scarrifholis.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1909|p=[https://archive.org/details/irelandunderstua02bagw/page/230/ 230, in the margin]|ps=. "Battle of Scariffhollis [sic], June 21"}} His stepfather fought in the battle and then fled and escaped capture. In July 1650, aged about 17, Strabane joined his stepfather in his fight against the Parliamentarians.{{Sfn|Cokayne|1892|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerage04cokahrish/page/n149/ 153, line 6]|ps=. "He joined his stepfather in July 1650 against the Parl. Forces."}} Together with Phelim O'Neill he defended Charlemont Fort in the Siege of Charlemont against Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath. The fort surrendered to Coote on terms on the 6th{{Sfn|Hill|1877|p=[https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalacc04hillgoog/page/n556/ 528, Note 223, line 17]|ps=. "... held the fort of Charlemont; and the said fort and garrison being afterwords, that is to say the 6th of Aug. 1650, taken by the army and forces of the commonwealth of England ..."}} or on the 14th of August 1650.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1909|p=[https://archive.org/details/irelandunderstua02bagw/page/236/ 236]|ps=. "Surrender of Charlemont, August 14 (in the margin)"}} The garrison was allowed to march to a port to go overseas into foreign service.

Lord Strabane, however, did not want to leave the country. He therefore escaped and hid in the woods and bogs of the Munterlony mountains where he was captured soon after.{{Sfn|Hill|1877|p=[https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalacc04hillgoog/page/n556/ 528, Note 223, line 21]|ps=. "... the said James Hamilton lord baron of Strabane, with other rebels unknown, in his company, then fled to the woods and bogs of the Mountereling (Munterlony) in the county of Tirrone, and was the said day taken prisoner ..."}} He then sought Coote's protection; but in December, he returned to his old cause and took up arms again with Phelim O'Neill. His lands, comprising among others what is today called the Baronscourt Estate, were confiscated.{{Sfn|Hill|1877|p=[https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalacc04hillgoog/page/n557/ 529, Note 223]|ps=. "... all the aforesaid lands [now the Baronscourt estate] by reason of the said James Hamilton, his acting and assisting in the said rebellion are forfeated ..."}} In 1652 Phelim O'Neill was captured. He was tried and convicted for treason in October and executed.{{Sfn|Webb|1878|p=[https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog/page/n425/ 417]|ps=. "He was tried and convicted in October, and was executed with all the barbarities then inflicted on persons adjudged guilty of high treason."}}

Strabane drowned in the River Mourne at Ballyfatten near Strabane in 1655, aged about 22.{{Sfn|Cokayne|1892|p=[https://archive.org/details/completepeerage04cokahrish/page/n149/ 153, line 7]|ps=. "He died s.p. 16 June 1655 (a recusant) being drowned while bathing in the River Maine at Ballyfatty near Strabane."}}{{Sfn|Paul|1904|p=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/50/ 50, line 28]|ps=. "... and died, without issue, a Roman Catholic recusant at Ballyfatten, near Strabane, 16 June 1655, being drowned bathing in the River Mourne ..."}} He had never married and was succeeded by his younger brother George as the 4th Baron of Strabane.

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite book|last=Bagwell |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Bagwell |date=1909 |title=Ireland under the Stuarts and under the Interregnum |volume=II |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |location=London |oclc=458582656 |url=https://archive.org/details/irelandunderstua02bagw/}} – 1642 to 1660 (for Scarrisholis and Charlemont)
• {{Cite book|last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |date=1892 |title=Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant |edition=1st |volume=IV |publisher=George Bell and Sons |location=London |oclc=1180828941 |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerage04cokahrish/}} – G to K (for Hamilton of Strabane)
• {{Cite book|last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |editor-last=Gibbs |editor-first=Vicary |editor-link=Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP) |date=1910 |title=The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant |edition=2nd |volume=I |publisher=St Catherine Press |location=London |oclc=228661424 |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo01coka/}} – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Abercorn)
• {{Cite book|last=Duffy |first=Seán |date=2002 |title=The Illustrated History of Ireland |publisher=Contemporary Books |location=New York |isbn=0-8092-2437-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto0000duff/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Fryde |editor-first=Edmund Boleslaw |editor-link=Edmund Fryde |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |date=1986 |title=Handbook of British Chronology |publisher=Offices of the Royal Historical Society |edition=3rd |series=Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 |location=London |isbn=0-86193-106-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbritis0000unse/ |url-access=registration}} – (for timeline)
• {{Cite book|last=Graham |first=Rev. John |date=1841 |title=Ireland Preserved; or the Siege of Londonderry and the Battle of Aughrim with Lyrical Poetry and Biographical Notes |edition=2nd |publisher=Hardy and Walker |location=Dublin |oclc=00992682 |url=https://archive.org/details/irelandpreserve00ashtgoog/}} – Short biographies in the biographical notes
• {{Cite book|last=Hill |first=Rev. George |date=1877 |title=An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, 1608–1620 |publisher=McCaw Stevenson and Orr |location=Dublin |oclc=32638560 |url=https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalacc04hillgoog/}}
• {{Cite book|last=Paul |first=Sir James Balfour |author-link=James Balfour Paul |date=1904 |title=The Scots Peerage, Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland |volume=I |publisher=David Douglas |location=Edinburgh |oclc=505064285 |url=https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/}} – Abercorn to Balmerino (for Abercorn)
• {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Webb |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Webb |date=1878 |title=O'Neill, Sir Felim |encyclopedia=Compendium of Irish Biography |publisher=M. H. Gill & Son |location=Dublin |pages=416–418 |oclc=122693688 |url=https://archive.org/details/acompendiumiris00webbgoog/page/n424/}}

{{Refend}}

{{S-start}}

{{S-reg|ie}}

{{S-bef|before=Claud Hamilton}}

{{S-ttl|title=Baron Hamilton of Strabane |years=1638–1655}}

{{S-aft|after=George Hamilton}}

{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton of Strabane, James Hamilton, 3rd Baron}}

Category:1633 births

Category:1655 deaths

Category:17th-century Irish nobility

Category:Barons in the Peerage of Ireland

James

Category:People from Strabane

Category:People of the Irish Confederate Wars

Category:Deaths by drowning