The House of Hamilton

The Hamiltons descend from Walter fitz Gilbert of Hambledon, who appears in a charter to the Monastery of Paisley in about 1294. He held Bothwell Castle for the English, surrendered it after Bannockburn, and was rewarded by Robert the Bruce with lands in Lanarkshire and the Lothians, including Cadzow, the estate that became Hamilton.

The family rose quickly. James, 1st Lord Hamilton, married Princess Mary, daughter of James II, in 1474, bringing the house close to the throne, and James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, stood as heir presumptive to Mary, Queen of Scots. Their properties included Brodick Castle on Arran, Craignethan Castle in South Lanarkshire and Kinneil House in West Lothian. The 1st Duke of Hamilton was executed in 1649 for supporting Charles I, and in 1941 Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland intending to reach the 14th Duke.

The Hamilton tartan

The tartan’s documented history is much shorter than the family’s. The pattern now sold as Hamilton was published as “Hamyltowne”, plate 42 of the Vestiarium Scoticum of 1842 by John and Charles Sobieski Stuart, a book that claimed descent from a sixteenth-century manuscript and was denounced as a forgery soon after publication. The Scottish Register of Tartans accordingly gives the designer of Hamilton as the Sobieski Stewarts.

The other Hamilton entries are later and separately sourced: Hamilton Green Hunting with the designer unknown, Hamilton of Brandon and Hamilton of Clayton by D. C. Dalgliesh, Hamilton Red by Lochcarron of Scotland, and a Clan Hamilton Society tartan recorded on 29 November 2022.

A note on honesty: nothing found documents any Hamilton sett being worn before 1842. Claims of a medieval or “ancient” Hamilton tartan are legend rather than record.

Family facts

References

1. Hamilton tartans — The Scottish Register of Tartans
2. Hamilton — Council of Scottish Clans & Associations
3. Vestiarium Scoticum