Lieutenant Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke
of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon TD, DL (6 March 1862 – 16 March
1940) was a Scottish nobleman and sailor.
Hamilton was born at
Shanklin, Isle of Wight in 1862, the son of Captain Charles
Douglas-Hamilton (1808-1873), a great-great-grandson of the 4th Duke of
Hamilton. He succeeded his
fourth cousin, the 12th Duke, who died in 1895.
He served as a young man in the Royal Navy, and gained
a reputation for being able to dive under the keels of the battleships
on which he served, without any equipment, reappearing on the opposite
side of the ship to the amazement of his crewmates. He was persuaded to
leave in 1888 by his fourth cousin the twelfth Duke in 1890.
There was a quite serious possibility that Alfred would provide a good
match for the heirless twelfth duke's daughter, Lady Mary. These hopes
of maintaining continuity were dashed however in 1890, when Hamilton was
partially paralysed by a rare tropical disease he had caught whilst on
his last tour of duty. Hamilton recovered however and succeeded in 1895.
Whilst inheriting all entailed property and assets from his cousin and a
£1 million debt, a large share of the Hamilton lands and properties went
to Lady Mary, latterly the Duchess of Montrose. The properties that left
the Hamilton family at this time included Brodick Castle on Arran, which
had been owned by the Hamiltons for 500 years.
One property that
did not leave the family was Hamilton Palace, the main family seat.
However, the Duke had offered the palace to the Navy during World War I
for use as a hospital. Following the end of the war it was considered
necessary to demolish it due to subsidence, blamed on the family's own
coal mines. Hamilton moved to Dungavel House, which had previously been
a Hamilton shooting lodge on moorland close to Strathaven.
Hamilton was Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4th Battalion, Highland
Light Infantry. He was also Honorary Colonel of the 6th Battalion, the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
Hamilton married on 4 December
1901, at the parish church, Newton Tony, to Nina Mary Benita Poore,
daughter of Major Robert Poore, who went on to found the Animal Defence
and Anti-Vivisection Society. They had four sons and three daughters:
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
Lady Jean
Douglas-Hamilton
George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
Lady Margaret Douglas-Hamilton
Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton
Lord
David Douglas-Hamilton
Lady Mairi Nina Douglas-Hamilton
Hamilton's sons made RAF history by all being of the rank of Squadron
Leader or above at the outbreak of World War II.
Hamilton died
shortly after his 78th birthday, on 16 March 1940 at the family's
property in Dorset, Ferne House.
 |
.jpg) |
| Lord David Douglas-Hamilton and his fiancee, Ann Prunella
Stack |
Lady Margaret Drummond-Hay (née Douglas-Hamilton) |
|
