Sir Frederick Hamilton
1917 portrait by Francis Dodd
Born(1856-03-08)8 March 1856
London, England
Died4 October 1917(1917-10-04) (aged 61)
Rosyth, Scotland
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1869–1917
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Rattlesnake[1]
HMS Bulwark[2]
Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth
Battles/warsZulu War
First World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton GCVO, KCB (8 March 1856 – 4 October 1917) was a senior Royal Navy officer who went on to be Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel.

Naval career

Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1869[3] as a cadet on the training ship Britannia.[1] He fought in Naval Brigade in the Zulu War in 1879, for which service he was mentioned in despatches.[3] After promotion to Lieutenant he specialised into the Torpedo Branch and in 1884 after training was appointed a staff officer at the Torpedo Schoolship HMS Vernon.[1] In 1892 he was promoted to commander and serving aboard the battleship HMS Hood. He was appointed in command of the torpedo school ship HMS Defiance at Devonport on 1 November 1897,[4] promoted to captain on 1 January 1898,[5] and re-appointed in command of the Defiance the same day.[6] On 18 March 1902 he was appointed flag captain of the battleship HMS Bulwark, which in May was to become flagship of Admiral Sir Compton Domvile, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.[7] Hamilton was Aide-de-Camp to the King between 1906 and 1907.[8]

At the outset of the First World War Hamilton was Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel and was promoted to full admiral in June 1916.[9] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth later that year[10] but died suddenly from a heart attack in 1917 and is buried in Fife.[11]

He lived at Anmer Hall near King's Lynn in Norfolk.[8]

Honours and awards

Family

Hamilton married Maria Walpole Keppel, the daughter of Admiral Sir Henry Keppel; they went on to have two sons (including Admiral Sir Louis Keppel Hamilton) and two daughters.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Death of Admiral Sir F.T. Hamilton". Deaths. The Times. No. 41601. London. 5 October 1917. col D, p. 11.
  2. ^ The Dreadnought Project
  3. ^ a b "National Maritime Museum". Archived from the original on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  4. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 35338. London. 19 October 1897. p. 8.
  5. ^ "No. 26924". The London Gazette. 31 December 1897. p. 7854.
  6. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 35408. London. 8 January 1898. p. 10.
  7. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36707. London. 5 March 1902. p. 5.
  8. ^ a b c The Peerage.com
  9. ^ "Admirals.org.uk". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  10. ^ "Dunfermline Heritage Roots". Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  11. ^ "Great War Forum". Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  12. ^ "No. 27560". The London Gazette. 2 June 1903. p. 35235.
  13. ^ "No. 28194". The London Gazette. 9 November 1908. p. 8162.
  14. ^ "No. 28677". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1913. p. 1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frederick Hamilton (Royal Navy officer).
Military offices Preceded bySir John Jellicoe Second Sea Lord 1914–1916 Succeeded bySir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe Preceded bySir Robert Lowry Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth 1916–1917 Succeeded bySir Cecil Burney
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