[1] Abercorn was born in 1904 at 15 Montagu Square, London,[2] the son of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham.

[5] After Sandhurst, Lord Hamilton was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, where he rose to the rank of captain.

[4] He became Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone on his father's death, a position he held for the remainder of his life.

[4] He was appointed honorary colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (a Territorial Army unit), and died at age 75.

[5] In 1928, Abercorn married Lady Kathleen Crichton (1905–1990), a daughter of Henry Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872–1914, son of 4th Earl Erne and father of the 5th Earl Erne) and Lady Mary Cavendish Grosvenor (1883–1959, daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster).