Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, George (1783-1830)
HAMILTON, GEORGE (1783–1830), biblical scholar and divine, born at Armagh in 1783, while his father was dean, was the fourth son of Hugh Hamilton, D.D. [q. v.], bishop of Ossory, and Isabella, eldest daughter of Hans Widman Wood of Rossmead, co. Westmeath. Having entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 10 June 1799, under the tutorship of the Rev. Bartholomew Lloyd, he graduated B.A. 1804 and M.A. 1821. He married, first, Sophia, daughter of George Kiernan of Dublin, by whom he had issue; and secondly, Frances, daughter of Rear-admiral Sir Chichester Fortescue, Ulster king-of-arms, who survived him. In 1809 he was presented to the rectory of Killermogh in the diocese of Ossory, which benefice he held as long as he lived. He was a conscientious parish priest and an early and zealous promoter of religious societies in connection with the church of Ireland. He died 10 Aug. 1830, and was buried in the churchyard of Killermogh, where there is a brief inscription to his memory.
Besides some separate sermons and papers in religious periodicals, Hamilton published: 1. ‘A General Introduction to the Study of the Hebrew Scriptures, with a Critical History of the Greek and Latin Versions, of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and of the Chaldee Paraphrases,’ Dublin, 1813. 2. ‘A Letter to the Rev. Peter Roe, M.A., November 1813, with Papers on Apostolick Practice and Ecclesiastical Establishments’ (printed in ‘The Evil of Separation from the Church of England considered,’ 2nd edit. London, 1817). 3. ‘Observations upon Mr. O'Callaghan's pamphlet against Bible Societies,’ Kilkenny, 1818. 4. ‘Codex Criticus of the Hebrew Bible, being an attempt to form a Standard Text of the Old Testament,’ London, 1821. 5. ‘Observations on a passage in the Medea of Seneca, and on the Argument against the Evidence of Prophecy drawn from it by Deistical Writers’ (read before the Royal Irish Academy, 22 Jan. 1821, and printed in their ‘Transactions,’ vol. xiv.) 6. ‘Observations on the Rev. Hart Symons's late publication, entitled “A Light to the House of Israel,”’ London, 1821. 7. ‘A Letter to Rabbi Herschell, showing that the Resurrection is as credible a fact as the Exodus, and that the tract called “Toldoth,” giving the Jewish account of the Resurrection, is no more worthy of credit than Tacitus's “History of the Jews”’ (printed in or before 1824). 8. ‘Tracts upon some leading Errors of the Church of Rome,’ London, 1824. 9. ‘The Claims of the Church of Rome to be the appointed Interpreter as well as the Depositary of the Word of God considered, in a correspondence between the Rev. George Hamilton and the Rev. N. Shearman,’ Dublin, 1825. 10. ‘Observations on the Present State of the Roman Catholic English Bible, addressed to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin [Dr. Murray],’ Dublin, 1825. 11. ‘A Second Letter to the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, on the Present State of the English Roman Catholic Bible,’ Dublin, 1826. 12. ‘The Scripture Authority of the Christian Sabbath vindicated against Roman Catholics and Separatists’ (anonymous), Dublin, 1828.
[Todd's Cat. of Dublin Graduates, p. 247; Burke's Landed Gentry, 3rd edit. p. 513; Christian Examiner (September 1830), x. 721; Blacker's Contributions towards a proposed Bibliotheca Hibernica, No. vii., in the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette (May 1876), xviii. 153; Roe's Thoughts on the Death of the Rev. George Hamilton (reprinted in Madden's Memoir of the Rev. Peter Roe, pp. 451–61); Cæsar Otway's Scenes in the Rotunda, Dublin; McGhee's Life and Death of the Kiernan Family.]