He served in the 2nd Life Guards, rising to the rank of commissioned cornet in 1847, lieutenant in 1849 and captain in 1854.

In 1856 he was appointed major in the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow and Lower Ward of Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry.

He began his political career in 1857 as Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for Falkirk Burghs, serving for two years.

The Hamiltons made large amounts of money in the nineteenth century, as the lands they held in Lanarkshire were sold for coal exploitation.

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