Lord William Hamilton

When the 4th Duke died in a duel, Lord William's eldest brother James succeeded to the dukedom and became the head of the Jacobite interest in Scotland.

In 1726, it was rumoured that Lord William would be given a troop of horse, when King George I recalled the Duke of Hamilton from Rome, where he had been seeing the Old Pretender.

[2] In May that year, he eloped with the beautiful but impoverished Frances Hawes, daughter of a stockbroker who lost all his fortune due to the South Sea Sufferer's Act 1721,[3] without the duke's knowledge,[1] having been led to believe he was marrying an heiress.

[4] The couple hurried to consummate the marriage to make it legally binding, fearing that her father might try to have it annulled,[5] and it turned out to be a love match.

[6] Lord William returned to Lanarkshire to represent his eldest brother's interests and became member of Parliament on 16 May 1734,[1] succeeding his uncle Archibald, but fell ill in June and died at his house in Pall Mall, London, on 11 July.