Field Marshal George Douglas-Hamilton, 1st
Earl of Orkney
Field Marshal George Douglas-Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney KT (9 February 1666
– 29 January 1737) was a British soldier and Scottish nobleman and the first
British Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. The son of
William
Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk, 3rd Duke of Hamilton, he fought for William of Orange in Ireland and the
Low Countries. He was raised to the peerage in 1695, and continued to serve with
distinction in the War of the Spanish Succession. After these campaigns he
retired from active service, taking on governorships and sitting as a
representative peer in the House of Lords.
Lord George Douglas-Hamilton
was born at Hamilton Palace, the fifth son of Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of
Hamilton and William Douglas, Earl of Selkirk. He was first trained by his
uncles, Lord Dumbarton, Lord James Douglas, and Lord Angus, in military service
in the 1st Regiment of Foot (then known as His Majesty's Royal Regiment of
Foot).
In 1689, after entering military service, he became a lieutenant
colonel, and a few months later a brevetted colonel. He and his regiment served
at the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim in the Irish War. He then moved to
command of the Royal Fusiliers and fought at the Battle of
Steenkeerke. He moved
back to the 1st Foot, participated in various battles of the Irish rebellion,
and eventually fought at the battle of Landen and the 1695 Siege of Namur, both
of which were fought during the War of the League of Augsburg. At Namur,
however, Hamilton received a serious wound, and was eventually promoted to the
rank of brigadier.
In 1695, Hamilton married Elizabeth Villiers sister to
Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey, and the following year, he was raised to
the Scottish peerage as Earl of Orkney, Viscount Kirkwall and Baron Dechmont.
He became a major general and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession
under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. A few years later in 1704, Orkney
was promoted to lieutenant general. At the Battle of Blenheim, Orkney led the
final assault on the village of Blenheim, receiving the surrender of its French
defenders. Later, in June 1705, he marched his column from the Moselle to
relieve the besieged city of Liège. At the Battle of Ramillies, he led the
pursuit of the defeated French, and he played a major role at the Battle of
Oudenarde.
In 1708, he captured two major fortifications at Tournai. At
the desperate Battle of Malplaquet, Lord Orkney's battalions led the charge
toward the French entrenchments, suffering serious losses. He remained with his
army near Flanders, until the end of the war. During that time, he received a
promotion to general. After the peace treaties, he received the honorary title
of Colonel Commandant of his old unit, the 1st Foot.
For the next few
decades, he held civilian and military positions of importance. He was installed
as Governor of Edinburgh Castle, made a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I, and
was Governor of Virginia in 1714, but appears never to have visited the colony.
He served as a Scottish Representative Peer in six parliaments from 1707 to
1736, and was the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire. In 1735 he commissioned the
building of a temple at his Buckinghamshire home, Cliveden House, by the
architect Giacomo Leoni. He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1736.
This was the first promotion to the rank of Field Marshal in the British Army.
Hamilton died a year later in his accommodation on Albemarle Street, London.
By Elizabeth Villiers, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances
Howard, Lord Orkney had three daughters, the eldest of which inherited his
estate and title:
Lady Anne, suo jure Countess of Orkney +7.12.1756, married
29.3.1720 William
O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin
Lady Frances +27.12.1772, married 27.6.1724 Thomas Lumley-Saunderson,
3rd Earl of Scarbrough
Lady Henrietta +22.8.1732, married 9.5.1728 John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork
Any contributions will be
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