Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet of Airdrie

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet (8 March 1788 – 6 May 1856) was a Scottish metaphysician...

...He was born in Glasgow. He was from an academic family, including Robert Hamilton, the economist. His father, Dr William Hamilton, had in 1781, on the strong recommendation of William Hunter, been appointed to succeed his own father, Dr Thomas Hamilton, as Regius Professor of Anatomy, Glasgow; and when he died in 1790, in his thirty-second year, he had already gained a great reputation. William Hamilton and a younger brother, Thomas Hamilton, were brought up by their mother. William received his early education in Scotland, except for two years which he spent in a private school near London, and in 1807 went as a Snell Exhibitioner, to Balliol College, Oxford. He obtained a first class in lit ens humanioribus and took his B.A. in 1811 (M.A. 1814). He had been intended for the medical profession, but soon after leaving Oxford he gave up this idea, and in 1813 became a member of the Scottish bar. His life continued to be that of a student; and the years that followed were filled by researches of all kinds, while at the same time he was gradually forming his philosophic system. Investigation enabled him to make good his claim to represent the ancient family of Hamilton of Preston, and in 1816 he took up the baronetcy, which had been in abeyance since the death of Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston (1650–1701), well known in his day as a Covenanting leader."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 August 2012, 00:08 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_William_Hamilton,_9th...> [accessed 28 September 2012]

Other References

• Sterling Genealogy, comp. and illustrated by Albert Mack Sterling, 1909, Vol. I, page 161-162
• Complete baronetage; Cokayne, George E. (George Edward); 1904; Vol. IV; page 300
• The Heraldry of the Hamiltons, by G. Harvey Johnston, 1909, page 119 (profile 543)
• Waterston, Charles D; Macmillan Shearer, A (July 2006). Biographical index of former fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002: Biographical Index. I. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. page 412