Hamilton spent a great deal of her youth at Harrow, England, where her younger brother was attending boarding school, and in London.
Hamilton received a comprehensive education from a number of governesses, a master for arithmetic, and her brother's tutor providing Latin tuition.
John Inigo Spilsbury was employed as her drawing master, during which time she reached the skill level of a professional artist.
Her best known works include Domestic happiness as acted in the city: a tragic comic farce, The Kingston to Holyhead packet, and Society.
[1] Desmond Fitzgerald and Professor Anne Crookshank used Hamilton's drawings in books covering the history of art in Ireland.