Sir Archibald Hamilton, 5th Baronet

Sir Abdullah Charles Edward Archibald Watkin Hamilton, 5th and 3rd Baronet (December 10, 1876 - March 18, 1939) [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10855.htm#i108544 thePeerage.com - Person Page 10855 ] ] was a distinguished British convert to Islam. [http://www.wokingmuslim.org/pers/others.htm Some converts from 'The Islamic Review', Woking ] ] [http://www.al-islam.com/articles/articles-e.asp?fname=ALISLAM_R44_E Articles ] ] [ [http://www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemonth/june02_index.php?l=34 Conversion: Islam, the growing religion ] ]

He was the son of Sir Edward Archibald Hamilton, 4th Baronet of Trebishun, Breconshire and 2nd Baronet of Marlborough House, Hampshire (1843–1915) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Gill. He gained both baronetcies upon the death of his father in 1915. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p7739.htm#i77390 thePeerage.com - Person Page 7739 ] ] He was also a descendant of William Hamilton, one of the five Kentish Petitioners of 1701 [Noble, Mark and Granger, James. A Biographical History of England, from the Revolution to the End of George I's Reign. 1806. pp. 211-213.] [ [http://polhill.info/book.php?p=11 Polhill Family History Page ] ] , great-grandson of Admiral Sir Edward Joseph Hamilton, 1st Baronet Hamilton of Marlborough House, [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p7740.htm#i77397 thePeerage.com - Person Page 7740 ] ] direct descendant of the Duke of Abercorn and also Lord Hamilton who married Princess Mary Stewart of Scotland, daughter of James II of Scotland. He served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Defence Corps and was at one time President of the Selsey (Sussex) Conservative Association.

Marriages and Children

He was married three times and twice divorced.

Olga Mary Adelaide FitzGeorge

Sir Archibald married Olga Mary Adelaid FitzGeorge, daughter of Rear-Admiral Sir Adolphus FitzGeorge KCVO and Sophia Jane Holden, granddaughter of the Duke of Cambridge and first cousin to Queen Victoria on 18 December 1897 in London, England. [ [http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=153176 GeneAll.net - Olga Mary Adelaide Fitzgeorge ] ] The marriage resulted in two children, George Edward Archibald Augustus FitzGeorge-Hamilton (30 December 1898 - 18 May 1918) whose baptism was attended by Queen Mary and King George V who along with the Duke of Cambridge were pledged to be his godparents. [http://myreader.co.uk/msg/11811570.aspx Re: Remembering the Noble War Dead ] ] . He was killed in action in May 1918. They had one unnamed daughter (b. 5 May 1902 - d. 5 May 1902). He and Olga Mary Adelaide FitzGeorge divorced in 1902.

Algorta Marjory Blanche Child

Algorta Marjory Blanch Childe, the daughter of George Child and Sir Archibald were married in November 1906 and divorced in 1908. She was found guilty of jewellery theft and was sentenced to six months in Holloway Prison. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p6306.htm#i63057 thePeerage.com - Person Page 6306 ] ] [ [http://www.cousinconnect.com/d/a/119836 CHILD : HAMILTON : Genealogy Query ] ]

Lilian Maud Austen

Sir Archibald and the daughter of William Austen, Lilian Maud Austen (b. before 1912 - d. 1964) were married in 1927. Lady Hamilton also converted to Islam, taking the name Miriam. [ [http://www.muslim.org/woking/converts.htm Woking Muslim Mission: Some of Woking's converts to Islam ] ]

Conversion to Islam

Sir Archibald embraced Islam in 1924.

"Since arriving at an age of discretion, the beauty and the simple purity of Islam have always appealed to me. I could never, though born and brought up as a Christian, believe in the dogmatic aspect of the Church, and have always placed reason and commonsense above blind faith.

As the time progressed, I wished to be at peace with my Creator, and I found that both the Church of Rome and the Church of England were of no real use to me.

In becoming a Muslim I have merely obeyed the dictates of my conscience, and have since felt a better and a truer man.

There is no religion that is so maligned by the ignorant and the biased as is Islam; yet if people only knew, it is the religion of strong for the weak, the rich for the poor. Humanity is divided into three classes. First, those on whom God has, out of His bounty, bestowed possessions and wealth; secondly, those who have to work to earn their living; and lastly, the great army of the unemployed, or those who have fallen by the wayside through no fault of their own."

Death

Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton died on 18 March 1939 at the age of 62. He is buried at the Brookwood Cemetery alongside his good friend, al-Hajj Shaikh Rahmatullah Headley al-Farooq, Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley.

References

See also

*Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley
*Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley
*Marmaduke Pickthall
*William Abdullah Quilliam
*Faris Glubb
*Ahmad Thomson
*Timothy Winter
*Islam by country
*Muslims in Western Europe
*Religion in the United Kingdom
* "The Muslim Weekly"
*Islam in Scotland
*Islam in London
*

External links

* [http://wokingmuslim.org/pers/others.htm Sir Abdullah Archibald Hamilton's obituary as published in the Islamic Review June 1939]
* [http://wokingmuslim.org/photos/ Photographic Archive from The Woking Muslim Mission, England, 1913–1968]