Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, Anne (1766-1846)

1100681Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 24 — Hamilton, Anne (1766-1846)1890Thomas Finlayson Henderson

HAMILTON, Lady ANNE (1766–1846), friend of Queen Caroline, George IV's wife, was eldest daughter of Archibald, ninth duke of Hamilton and sixth of Brandon, by Lady Harriet Stewart, fifth daughter of the sixth Earl of Galloway. Lord Archibald Hamilton [q. v.], political reformer, was her brother. She was born on 16 March 1766, and became lady-in-waiting to Caroline, princess of Wales. She held this position till the princess's foreign journey in 1813. She met Queen Caroline at Montbard on her return to England in 1820, and entered London in the same carriage with her. Afterwards Queen Caroline took up her residence with her in Portman Street, Portman Square. On the abandonment of the Pains and Penalties Bill the queen, accompanied by Lady Anne, went to Hammersmith Church to receive the sacrament. Lady Anne also walked on the queen's right in the procession to St. Paul's on 30 Nov. to return thanks for her acquittal. The queen died at Hammersmith on 7 Aug. 1821, and Lady Anne accompanied the body to Brunswick, and was present when it was laid in the royal vault there on 26 Aug. The only legacy left her by the queen was a picture of herself. On the death of William, fourth duke of Queensberry, in 1810, Lady Anne received a legacy of 10,000l.; but she presented this to her brother, Lord Archibald Hamilton, and her circumstances during her later years were by no means affluent. She died on 10 Oct. 1846 in White Lion Street, Islington, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. A person who had gained the confidence of Lady Anne, and obtained from her a variety of private information, published, without her knowledge and much to her regret and indignation, a volume purporting to be written by her, entitled 'Secret History of the Court of England from the Accession of George III to the Death of George IV,' London, 1832. A reprint appeared in 1878.

[Gent. Mag. new ser. 1846, pt. ii. pp. 552, 661; Memoirs of Queen Caroline, severally by Nightingale, Adolphus, and Clerke.]

T. F. H.