His three brothers all became officers in the British Army, including the third son, Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton.

[5] During the latter part of the war he was in command of the military columns operating in Eastern Transvaal,[6] and following the announcement of peace on 31 May 1902, he supervised the surrender of arms in that area.

[7] In his final despatch from South Africa in June 1902, Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the forces during the latter part of the war, described Hamilton as an officer "possessed of qualities of boldness, energy and resolution in no common degree".

[8] He left Cape Town on board the SS Walmer Castle in late June 1902,[9] and arrived at Southampton the following month.

In the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902, Hamilton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB),[10] and he invested as such by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.