Lord Claud Hamilton (1843–1925)


Rt. Hon. Lord Claud John Hamilton was a British Member of Parliament during the Victorian era, and a noted railway director.

Family and education

Born the second son of James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn and his wife Lady Louisa Jane Russell, Hamilton was educated at Harrow School.
He married Carolina Chandos-Pole on 20 July 1878 and they had two children:
Hamilton served in the British Army, firstly in the Grenadier Guards, and later in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, before turning to political life.
In 1865, he became Conservative MP for Londonderry City until 1868 when he was appointed a Lord of the Treasury in Benjamin Disraeli's first ministry. In 1869, he became MP for King's Lynn until 1880, for Liverpool from 1880 to 1885, for Liverpool West Derby from 1885 until he resigned his seat in 1888, and for Kensington South from January 1910 to 1918.
Lord Claud had been an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria from 1887 to 1897 and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1917.

Great Eastern Railway

However his principal contribution to British public life was as a director of the Great Eastern Railway from 1872, becoming vice-chairman in 1874, and chairman in 1893, continuing as chairman until 1922. The GER operated from London's Liverpool Street station to major eastern towns and cities including Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Chelmsford, and Colchester. Hamilton travelled the network extensively. "He devoted the main energies of his life to the company, constantly travelling over the system, observing its conduct and operation". The shares of the company rose from 76, shortly after he became a director, to par in 1896, and the dividend to 6% in 1901.
In 1900, the Great Eastern Railway named the first of its new class of 4-4-0 express passenger locomotives after its chairman, and the whole class came to be known as the "Claud Hamilton" type.

Death

Hamilton died on 26 January 1925, and was buried in Richmond Cemetery. He was 81 years of age.

Legacy

A memorial was erected by Ida Flower in 1925 to the memory of her father. It can be found on the south wall of St John's-Hyde Park Church, London, W2.

Ancestry