Dukes of Abercorn - History

History

In acknowledgement of his loyalty, James VI of Scotland (James I of England), conferred on Hon. Claud Hamilton, third son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the title Lord Paisley. His son James Hamilton was created Lord Abercorn on 5 April 1603, then on 10 July 1606 he was made Earl of Abercorn and Lord of Paisley, Hamilton, Mountcastell and Kilpatrick, all in the Peerage of Scotland.

His successor, the 2nd Earl of Abercorn, was additionally created Lord Hamilton, Baron of Strabane, in the Peerage of Ireland, on 8 May 1617. He resigned this dignity to his younger brother in 1633; the brother's heirs inherited the Earldom and other titles in 1680, in the person of Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn. He was attainted in Ireland in 1691, and the Barony of Strabane forfeited, but his brother Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn, obtained a reversal of the attainder and recovered in 1692.

The 6th earl was at his accession an Irish baronet, "of Dunalong in the County of Tyrone, and of Nenagh in the County of Tipperary" (1660). He was additionally created Baron Mountcastle and Viscount Strabane, in the Peerage of Ireland, on 2 September 1701. The 7th earl became the first of the Earls of Abercorn to be invested a Privy Counsellor, having been appointed to both the English and Irish Privy Councils. The 8th earl was created Viscount Hamilton, of Hamilton, in the Peerage of Great Britain on 24 August 1786. He was succeeded by his nephew, who was created Marquess of Abercorn in the Peerage of Great Britain on 15 October 1790, after having sat in the House of Commons as MP for East Looe and for St Germans. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1805.

The 2nd Marquess, who had been given the Garter in 1844, served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1866 to 1868 (and again from 1874 to 1876); and on 10 August 1868, during his first term, he was created Marquess of Hamilton, of Strabane, and Duke of Abercorn (in the Peerage of Ireland). His successor, the 2nd Duke, continued the family tradition by being awarded the Garter in 1892; the 3rd Duke served as MP for Derry and as Governor of Northern Ireland, along with being created a Knight of St Patrick and given the Garter. Currently, the holder of the Dukedom is James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, also a Knight of the Garter.

Of the subsidiary titles above, Marquess of Hamilton is the courtesy title of the heir apparent, and Viscount Strabane that of his heir-apparent.

The Dukes of Abercorn also claim the French title of Duc de Châtellerault, as heirs-male of the second Earl of Arran, who was granted the title in 1548 by Henry II of France.

The family seat is Baronscourt (usually known locally as Baronscourt Castle), a neo-Classical country house on the Baronscourt Estate near Newtownstewart, a village near Strabane, County Tyrone.