Biography
Hamilton was politically a Liberal. He spoke English, German, French and Hindi, was considered charming, courtly and kind. He appeared frail, yet was full of energy. He was twice recommended for the Victoria Cross, but on the first occasion was considered too young, and on the second too senior. He was wounded in the wrist in the First Boer War (1881) at the Battle of Majuba, leaving his left hand almost useless. His left leg was shorter than the right, as a result of a serious injury falling from a horse.
Different people came to hold differing opinions of him. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith remarked that he had 'too much feather in his brain', whereas Charles Bean, war correspondent covering the Gallipoli campaign considered he had 'a breadth of mind which the army in general does not possess'. He opposed conscription and was considered less ruthless than other successful generals.
He wrote a volume of poetry and a novel contemporarily described as risqué. Works included The fighting of the future, Icarus, A jaunt on a junk, A Ballad of Hadji and A Staff officer's Scrapbook. Writing in the introduction of his Gallipoli Diary, he commented: There is nothing certain about war except that one side won't win.
Hamilton's father was Colonel Christian Monteith Hamilton, former commander of the 92nd Highlanders. His mother Corinna was the daughter of the 3rd Viscount Gort. His mother died giving birth to his brother, Vereker. He was educated in Cheam, Surrey and then at Wellington college. His father then sent him to stay with General von Damimers, a Hanoverian who had fought against Prussia. He married Jean Muir in 1887, daughter of a Glasgow businessman.
Hamilton was filmed as part of a war documentary 'Forgotten Men' in 1934 (aged 81).
Read more about this topic: Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton
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