William Gerard Hamilton

He was born in London, the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and succeeded his father in 1754. He was educated at Winchester, Lincoln's Inn and Oriel College, Oxford. With his father's fortune he entered political life and became Member of Parliament for Petersfield in Hampshire. His maiden speech, delivered on 13 November 1755, during the debate on the address, which excited Horace Walpole's admiration, is generally supposed to have been his only effort in the House of Commons. But the nickname "Single Speech" is undoubtedly misleading, and Hamilton is known to have spoken with success on other occasions, both in the House of Commons and in the Irish parliament.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1756 he was appointed one of the commissioners for trade and plantations, and in 1761 he became chief secretary to Lord Halifax, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as well as MP of the Irish House of Commons for Killybegs (until 1768) and English MP for Pontefract.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He was appointed Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1763, and subsequently filled various other administrative offices. Hamilton was thought very highly of by Samuel Johnson, and it is certain that he was strongly opposed to the British taxation of America.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was close to the Prince Regent, serving as a trusted adviser. In 1784 he exchanged his office as Chancellor of the Exchequer for a pension of £2,000 p.a. Hamilton had held the office for over 20 years, although had treated the role as a largely ceremonial position. He was succeeded by John Foster, who went on to bring in changes credited with greatly boosting the rural Irish economy.[https://books.google.com/books?id=b68UBQAAQBAJ&dq=grattan+junta+1783&pg=PA75 Ireland: A History from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day p.75]

He suffered from a severe paralytic stroke in the winter of 1791–92. This had not been his first, and by August 1792 he remained in a poor state. On 4 March 1793 he received a leave of absence from the House of Commons due to his ill health. He died in London on 16 July 1796, and was buried in the chancel vault of St Martins-in-the-Fields. His death came "just in time to save him from absolute poverty."[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/hamilton-william-gerard-1729-96 HAMILTON, William Gerard (1729-96), of Hampton Court, Mdx., The History of Parliament] He was unmarried.

Two of his speeches in the Irish House of Commons, and some other miscellaneous works—including previously unpublished notes on the Corn Laws by Johnson—were published by Edmond Malone after his death under the title Parliamentary Logick.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=7}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{EB1911|wstitle=Hamilton, William Gerard|volume=12|page=890}}
• {{cite book |title = Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar: A Literary Biography

|last = Martin

|first = Peter

|year = 2005

|publisher = Cambridge University Press

|isbn = 0-521-61982-3

}}

• [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00227.shtml William Gerard Hamilton] at the [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/ Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)]

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{{s-bef| before = Henry Gore
Francis Pierpoint Burton }}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Killybegs

| with = Richard Jones

| years = 1761–1768 }}

{{s-aft| after = Henry Hamilton
Thomas Allan }}

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{{s-bef| before = John Jolliffe
William Conolly }}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Petersfield

| with = John Jolliffe 1754

| with2 = William Beckford 1754

| with3 = Sir John Philipps 1754–1761

| years = 1754–1761 }}

{{s-aft| after = John Jolliffe
Richard Pennant}}

{{s-bef| before = Sambrooke Freeman
The Viscount Galway}}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Pontefract

| with = The Viscount Galway

| years = 1761–1768 }}

{{s-aft| after = The Viscount Galway
Sir Rowland Winn}}

{{s-bef| before = Howell Gwynne
Thomas Pitt}}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Old Sarum

| with = John Craufurd

| years = 1768–1774 }}

{{s-aft| after = Pinckney Wilkinson
Thomas Pitt}}

{{s-bef| before = Robert Palk
Thomas de Grey}}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Wareham

| with = Christopher D'Oyly

| years = 1774–1780}}

{{s-aft| after = John Boyd
Thomas Farrer}}

{{s-bef| before = Henry Herbert
Charles Herbert}}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Wilton

| with = Lord Herbert 1780–1785, 1788–1790

| with2 = Philip Goldsworthy 1785–1788

| years = 1780–1790}}

{{s-aft| after = Lord Herbert
The Viscount FitzWilliam}}

{{s-bef| before = John Baynes-Garforth
John Lowther}}

{{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Haslemere

| with = James Lowther 1790

| with2 = Richard Penn 1790–1791

| with3 = James Clarke Satterthwaite 1791–1796

| years = 1790–1796 }}

{{s-aft| after = James Clarke Satterthwaite
James Lowther}}

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{{succession box | title=Chief Secretary for Ireland | before=Richard Rigby | after=The Earl of Drogheda | years=1761–1764}}

{{succession box | before=Sir William Yorke | title=Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland | years=1763–1784 | after=John Foster}}

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{{Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland}}

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Category:1729 births

Category:1796 deaths

Category:People educated at Winchester College

Category:Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford

Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn

Category:British MPs 1754–1761

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Category:British MPs 1784–1790

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Category:Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies

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