William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton
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William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton (1616-1651), succeeded to the dukedom on his brother’s execution in 1649.
He was created Earl of Lanark in 1639, and in the next year became Secretary of State in Scotland. Arrested at Oxford by the king’s orders in 1643 for "concurrence" with Hamilton, he effected his escape and was temporarily reconciled with the Presbyterian party. He was sent by the Scottish committee of estates to treat with Charles I at Newcastle in 1646, when he sought in vain to persuade the king to consent to the establishment of Presbyterianism in England. On 26 September 1647 he signed on behalf of the Scots the treaty with Charles known as the "Engagement" at Carisbrooke Castle, and helped to organize the second Civil War. In 1648 he fled to Holland, his succession in the next year to his brother’s dukedom making him an important personage among the Royalist exiles. He returned to Scotland with Prince Charles in 1650, but, finding a reconciliation with Argyll impossible, he refused to prejudice Charles’s cause by pushing his claims, and lived in retirement chiefly until the Scottish invasion of England, when he acted as colonel of a body of his dependants. He died on 12 September 1651 from the effects of wounds received at Worcester. He left no male heirs, and the title devolved on the 1st duke’s eldest surviving daughter Anne, Duchess of Hamilton in her own right.
| Preceded by: James Hamilton | Duke of Hamilton | Followed by: Anne Hamilton |