Background
He was an illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, and a younger brother of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran.
He was an illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, and a younger brother of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran.
In January 1513 James IV declared that because the 1st Earl of Arran then had no heirs, James Hamilton of Finnart the 1st Earl"s son, with Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil and John Hamilton of Broomhill, the Earl"s two half-brothers, would be considered legitimate and able to inherit Hamilton lands. In March 1516, the infant James V of Scotland and the Governor, Regent Albany leased Patrick to rights to mine for gold, silver, tin and other metals on Crawford Moor and other places. In 1520, as a result of rivalry between the Hamiltons and the "Black" Douglases, he helped instigate the street brawl in Edinburgh known as "Cleanse the Causeway".
The fight turned out badly for the Hamiltons, and Sir Patrick and about 70 others were killed.
Cardinal Wolsey was told that Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus killed Patrick by his own hand. His widow, Margaret Stewart, contracted a marriage with a John Hamilton, which was annulled on grounds of affinity in 1530-1532.
A younger son, Master Patrick Hamilton went on to become one of the first preachers and Lutherans in Scotland, and in 1528 a martyr of the Scottish Reformation.