CHAPTER III
THE CALLIDON HAMILTONS
Capt. John Hamilton of Priestfield was
an active cavalier in the service of King Charles I, and expended a
considerable sum of money in levying a troop of horse in Ireland and
transporting them to Scotland and from thence to England in the King's service
in a time when the exigency of the royal cause stood most in need of such
service. He was killed on the 6th
Dec 1649 (as previously mentioned), and after the Restoration his brother
William Hamilton, then of Lough Currine in the Co. of Tyrone, who had himself
rendered services to the royal cause, and had endured sufferings in that cause,
was rewarded by a grant of a part of the forfeited lands in the Barony of
Dungannon in Tyrone; which forfeited lands were appointed for satisfaction of
arrears due before 1649.[1]
Capt. William Hamilton, having claimed
payment of the monies due to his brother and himself, the Commissioners whose
duty it was to deal with such claims, ascertained that the amount due was
£19,763 and after a retrenchment of 7s 6d in the pound to provide lands for
the native Irish, there remained to be satisfied in lands the sum of £12,362. By letters patent dated 27th February,
19th Charles II and 15th July, 20th Charles
II (sic), lands of large extent were granted to William Hamilton and comprised
the Callidon Estate.
[2]
The Callidon Estate, as before mentioned, passed
subsequently into the hands of Margaret Hamilton, who married John 5th
Earl of Cork and Orrery.
[3]
The estate was sold towards the end of the
eighteenth century to the Earl of Caledon ( note
), having been previously offered, it is said, to the ancestor of Sir James
Stronge of Tynan Abbey for £70,000, and to the first Earl of Belmore for £90,000.
[4]
The arms of Hamilton of Priestfield
are given in Burke's "General Armoury," 1852 thus: - Gules, or a
chevron between three cinquefoils argent, five buckles azure. These arms are not, however, registered with
Lyon King at Arms, and Burke's authority for them is not known. They resemble
closely the Hamilton arms used by the Earls of Haddington, who represent the
senior branch of the Priestfield family. John Hamilton of Callidon, the eldest
son of Capt. William Hamilton, married Lucy, daughter of Anthony Dopping,
Bishop of Meath. He and his wife
presented a communion paten to Callidon church on which the following
inscription and the arms of Hamilton impaling Dopping appear: - "Hanc
patinam sacram Johannes Hamilton de Calidon Armiger et Lucy Hamilton alias
Dopping, uxor ejus eccleic parochiali Sancti Johannis de Aghalow, DD
AD1712". The arms are as follows:
- Hamilton: Gules, three cinquefoils ermine, on a chief or a lion passant
guardant of the first, between two thistles proper. Crest, out of ducal coronet or, a demi lion gules holding in the
dexter paw a thistle of the first.
Dopping: Gules a chevron ermine, and in base a plate a chief chequy
argent and azure.
An interesting point arises in
connection with the Hamilton arms inscribed upon the Callidon paten. Excluding the "two thistles
proper" they are identical with those given in the "Hamilton
Manuscripts" (edited by T.K.Lowry) as the arms of the County Down family
to which that work relates, but no relationship between the Callidon family and
the County Down family has been traced.
William Hamilton of Callidon in his will, dated 20th January
1672, appoints "his cousin",
Sir Hans Hamilton, Bart. one of the overseers of his will. Sir Hans was one of the County Down family,
but how this cousinship came about does not now appear.
William Hamilton of Callidon was in
1661 appointed guardian of Gustavus Hamilton, then a minor, afterwards the
first Visct. Boyne, son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, Knt. Of Manorhamilton, Co
Leitrim; and also guardian of Hanna Hamilton, afterwards the wife of Sir
William Gore, Bart. of Manor Gore, Co. Donegal, and of Sidney Hamilton,
afterwards the wife of Sir John Hume, Bart. of Castle Hume, Co Fermanagh. They were the minor daughters and co-heirs
of James Hamilton, eldest son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and succeeded to the
Manorhamilton estates – (see Anderson's "History of the House of Hamilton"
p 244).
In records of the O'Rourke family
the following paragraph appears:
North Leitrim's largest town,
Manorhamilton back in the mist of time was called "O'Rourke's little
fields". Its recent name was given to one of the most dreaded local
rulers, Sir Frederick Hamilton who came to Manorhamilton from Scotland and
founded a castle in 1638. He was the grandson of James II, Earl of
Arran. It was said that Sir Frederick was used as an example if you were trying
to make Cromwell look good. He was to use the gallows in Manorhamilton daily,
to hang a Catholic. One of his last and many acts of destruction was the
burning of Carr Castle, a stronghold of the O'Rourkes at Glencar in
1641.