Lord Frederick Hamilton

Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton (13 October 1856 – 11 August 1928) was a British aristocrat, Conservative politician, diplomat, and author.^[1]

Lord Frederick Hamilton
"The Pall Mall Magazine" Hamilton as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, February 1895
Member of Parliament for North Tyrone
In office 1892-1895
Member of Parliament for Manchester South West
In office 1885-1886
Personal details
Born	(1856-10-13)13 October 1856 Brighton, Sussex
Died	11 August 1928(1928-08-11) (aged 71) Westminster, London
Political party	Conservative
Parents	James Hamilton (father) Louisa Russell (mother)

Skiers in Ottawa, 1895. Lord Frederick Hamilton introduced the sport of skiing to Canada in 1887.

Biography

Lord Frederick was born in Brighton,^[2] the sixth son and thirteenth child of James Hamilton, Marquess of Abercorn and Louisa, Marchioness of Abercorn, who were "long remembered as the most handsome and most distinguished young couple of their generation." His father was created the 1st Duke of Abercorn in 1868. His mother, the daughter of the 6th Duke of Bedford, was the half-sister to Prime Minister John Russell.^[1]

He was Second Secretary of the Diplomatic Service (1877–1884) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester South West (1885–1886) and North Tyrone (1892–1895). Lord Frederick also wrote the three-volume set of books, The Days Before Yesterday, Vanished Pomps of Yesterday and Here, There and Everywhere, which were first published in 1920 by Hodder and Stoughton, and known collectively as My Yesterdays. These give vivid, sometimes amusing and always well-written accounts of his early life, diplomatic service, and travels.^[1]

While serving as aide-de-camp to Lord Lansdowne, then Governor-General of Canada, in Ottawa, In January 1887, Lord Frederick was the first person to introduce skiing to Canada, using skis he had brought from Russia.^[3] As he recounts, he used to "slide down the toboggan slides at Ottawa on them, to universal derision". He was told they were "unsuited to Canadian conditions, and would never be popular in Canada".

From 1896 to 1900 he was editor of the Pall Mall Magazine.^[4]

He never married and died without children, aged 71, at 13 Great College Street, Westminster.^[1]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Lord Frederick Hamilton

16. Captain The Hon. John Hamilton 8. John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn 17. Harriet Craggs 4. James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton 18. Sir Joseph Copley, 1st Baronet 9. Catherine Copley 19. Mary Buller 2. James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn 20. James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton 10. The Hon. John Douglas 21. Bridget Heathcote 5. Harriet Douglas 22. Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood 11. Lady Frances Lascelles 23. Anne Chaloner 1. Lord Frederick Spencer Hamilton 24. John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford 12. Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock 25. The Hon. Gertrude Leveson-Gower 6. John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford 26. Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle 13. Lady Elizabeth Keppel 27. Lady Anne Lennox 3. Lady Louisa Jane Russell 28. Cosmo Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon 14. Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon 29. Lady Catherine Gordon 7. Lady Georgina Gordon 30. Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet of Monreith, Wigtownshire 15. Jane Maxwell 31. Magdalen Blair

Works

• The Vanished Pomps of Yesterday at Project Gutenberg, by Lord Frederic [sic] Hamilton, 1919 *
• The Days Before Yesterday at Project Gutenberg, by Lord Frederic [sic] Hamilton, 1920
• Here, There and Everywhere at Project Gutenberg, by Lord Frederic [sic] Hamilton, 1921