James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn

{{infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = His Grace

| name = The Duke of Abercorn

| image = James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn.jpg

| caption = The Duke of Abercorn in 1960

| office = Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone

| monarch = Elizabeth II

| term_start = 1951

| term_end = 1979

| predecessor = James Ponsonby Galbraith

| successor = John Hamilton-Stubber

| office2 = Member of the Senate of Northern Ireland

| term_start2 = 22 March 1949

| term_end2 = 8 May 1962

| birth_name = James Edward Hamilton, Viscount Strabane

| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|02|29|df=yes}}

| birth_place=Marylebone, London

| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|06|04|1904|02|29|df=yes}}

| party = Unionist

| spouse = {{marriage|Hon. Kathleen Crichton|1928}}

| children = 3, including James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn

| parents = {{ubl|James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn|Lady Rosalind Bingham}}

}}

James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn (29 February 1904 – 4 June 1979), styled Viscount Strabane until 1913 and Marquess of Hamilton between 1913 and 1953, was a British peer.{{cite book |last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |editor1-last=Gibbs |editor1-first=Vicary |editor2-last=Doubleday |editor2-first=H. A. |editor3-last=White |editor3-first=Geoffrey |editor4-last=Warrand |editor4-first=Duncan |editor5-last=de Walden |editor5-first=Lord Howard |year=2000 |orig-year=1982 |title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant |volume=I |page=10 |publisher=Alan Sutton Publishing |location=Gloucester, U.K. |isbn=0904387828 |oclc=60066829}}

Early life and education

Abercorn was born in 1904 at 15 Montagu Square, London,{{cite news |title=Births. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001986/19040303/091/0004 |access-date=25 September 2024 |work=Irish Independent |date=3 March 1904 |page=4}} the son of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham. He inherited his father's peerages on 12 September 1953.{{cite book |last1=Mosley |first1=Charles |title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes |date=2003 |publisher=Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd |location=Wilmington |isbn=0971196621 |page=140 |edition=107}}

He was educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst.{{cite news |title= Obituary: Duke of Abercorn |work=The Times |date=6 June 1979 |page=16 }}

Career

After Sandhurst, Lord Hamilton was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, where he rose to the rank of captain.{{cite web |title=Abercorn |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U151568 |website=Who's Who 2022 & Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U151568 |access-date=11 August 2022}} In 1946, he was elected to the County Council of County Tyrone, served as High Sheriff of Tyrone, and then served in the Senate of Northern Ireland. He became Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone on his father's death, a position he held for the remainder of his life. He was appointed honorary colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (a Territorial Army unit), and died at age 75.

He was active in public life in Northern Ireland. He was chairman of the trustees of the Ulster Museum from 1962–79 and Chancellor of the University of Ulster from 1970-79. He was president of the Royal Forestry Society from 1954-66 and also served as president of the International Dendrological Union (later the International Dendrology Society).

Marriage and issue

In 1928, Abercorn married Lady Kathleen Crichton (1905–1990), a daughter of Henry Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872–1914, son of 4th Earl Erne and father of the 5th Earl Erne) and Lady Mary Cavendish Grosvenor (1883–1959, daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster).

They had two sons and a daughter:

Lady Moyra Kathleen Hamilton (1930–2020), maid of honour at the coronation of Elizabeth II{{cite book|editor-last=Montague-Smith|editor-first=Patrick W.|chapter=Abercorn, Duke of (Hamilton) sat as Marquess of Abercorn (GB 1790) (Duke I 1868, Bt I 1660)|title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2008|year=2008|publisher=Debrett's Peerage Limited|location=London, UK}}
James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn (born 1934)
Lord Claud Anthony Hamilton (born 1939), who was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of County Fermanagh in 1978; he was High Sheriff of Fermanagh in 1990 and was made a Justice of the Peace for the county in 1991. In 1982 he married Catherine Janet Faulkner (niece of Lord Faulkner of Downpatrick). They have a son and a daughter.