Жорж Гамильтон: Шотландия ақсұлы және фельдмаршал дәрежесінің алғашқы иесі

17th and 18th century Scottish nobleman and field marshal

Field Marshal George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, (9 February 1666 – 29 January 1737), styled Lord George Hamilton from 1666 to 1696, was a British soldier and Scottish nobleman and the first British Army officer to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. After commanding a regiment for the cause of William of Orange during the Williamite War in Ireland, he commanded a regiment in the Low Countries during the Nine Years' War. He then led the final assault at the Battle of Blenheim attacking the village churchyard with eight battalions of men and then receiving the surrender of its French defenders during the War of the Spanish Succession. He also led the charge of fifteen infantry battalions in an extremely bloody assault on the French entrenchments at the Battle of Malplaquet. In later life, he became a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I and was installed as Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

Born the son of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk and Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, Hamilton was commissioned into the His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Foot, a regiment for which his uncle, Lord Dumbarton, held the colonelcy, on 9 May 1684.

Hamilton became a lieutenant colonel of Lloyd's Regiment of Enniskillen Foot in June 1689 and, having been promoted to brevet colonel, commanded the regiment at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, at the siege of Athlone in June 1691 and at the Battle of Aughrim, where he was wounded, in July 1691 during the Williamite War in Ireland. He also commanded the regiment at the siege of Limerick in October 1691 and then became colonel of the Royal Fusiliers in January 1692 before fighting with that regiment at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 in the Low Countries during the Nine Years' War.

Promoted to major general on 9 March 1702, Hamilton fought under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at the siege of Stevensweert in October 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. He returned to the continent in 1712 and continued to serve in the Army commanded by the Duke of Ormonde besieging Douai and then Bouchain until 1713.

Hamilton became a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I and was installed as Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1714. Promoted to field marshal (the first ever promotion to this rank) on 31 January 1735, he commissioned the building of a temple at his Buckinghamshire home, Cliveden, by the architect Giacomo Leoni later that year. Hamilton died at his home at Albemarle Street in London on 29 January 1737 and was buried at Taplow Court.