James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton

James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton, KT, (10 July 1724–17 January 1758) was a Scottish peer.

Hamilton was the son of the 5th Duke of Hamilton and was styled as Marquess of Clydesdale from his birth until his father's death. He was educated at Winchester College from 1734 to 1740 and graduated from St Mary Hall, Oxford on 14 April 1743.

On 14 February (St. Valentine's Day) 1752, Hamilton met the society beauty Elizabeth Gunning at Bedford House in London. According to Walpole, the duke wished to marry her that night and he called for a local parson to perform the ceremony. However, without a license, calling of banns and a ring, the parson refused and they were eventually married that night in Mayfair Chapel (which did not require a license) in a clandestine marriage, with a ring from a bedcurtain. The couple had three children:

*Lady Elizabeth Hamilton (26 January 1753–14 March 1797), married Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
*James Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton (18 February 1755–7 July 1769)
*Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton (24 July 1756–2 August 1799)

On 2 March 1743, he succeeded to his father's title of Duke of Hamilton. He died on 17 January 1758, aged 33, at Great Tew, Oxfordshire from a cold caught whilst out hunting and was buried in February 1758 at the family mausoleum at Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

External links

* [http://members.fortunecity.com/chtii/irish/coot/gunning.htm Elizabeth Gunning]