Background
Hamilton was the third son of Henry Hamilton, Justice of the Peace of Tullylish and grandson of Hugh Hamilton, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1795 to 1799. And then of Ossory until 1805.
Hamilton was the third son of Henry Hamilton, Justice of the Peace of Tullylish and grandson of Hugh Hamilton, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1795 to 1799. And then of Ossory until 1805.
He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Dublin and ordained in 1847.
He was also a Canon of Durham. After a curacy in Sunderland he became Chaplain of Durham Prison then Vicar of Berwick. In 1884 he became Chaplain to the High Sheriff of Durham.
Hamilton married (first) "Bella Best", Arabella Sarah Best, whose father John Best (1791-1825) came from Worcester.
Best died in Bombay aged 33, leaving his widow - possibly in India - four months pregnant, with four other children under the age of ten. Hamilton"s penultimate son Robert (1871-1901), a refrigeration engineer, was killed aged 30 in an explosion aboard the first refrigerated ship bringing bananas to Britain from the West Indies.
Hamilton was a great advocate of prison reform. His character was drawn upon by Charles Reade in lieutenant Is Never Too Late to Mend (1856).
Hamilton died in post on 23 September 1905.
And his widow on 31 August 1939.
Church of England.