Colonelcies of Royal Marines, and about the same time, selected by Lord Mulgrave to be his Private Secretary. He afterwards took a seat at the Board of Admiralty, which he held till July, 1809, when he was appointed Surveyor-General of the Ordnance; and, on the 31st of the same month, advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral. His promotion to that of Vice-Admiral took place June 4, 1814; and on the 2d Jan. in the following year, he was created a K.C.B.
On the appointment of the Duke of Wellington to succeed Lord Mulgrave as Master-General of the Ordnance, Sir Robert Moorsorn accompanied the latter nobleman in his retirement.
SIR CHARLES HAMILTON,
Baronet; Vice-Admiral of the White; Commander-in-Chief at Newfoundland, and Governor of that Colony.
The house of Hamilton is justly celebrated in the annals of these realms, for the antiquity of its lineage, its splendid actions, extensive alliances, and signal services to King, Church, and State, in the various periods which have elapsed from its origin to the present day.
Sir Charles Hamilton is lineally descended from the Earl of Mellent, in Normandy, whose nephew and heir Robert de Bellamont commanded the right wing of the invading army at the battle of Hastings; was rewarded by the conqueror with the Earldom of Leicester and an extensive donation of manors and domains in that county; and married Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh, the great Duke of Vermandois, son of Henry the first King of France.
The appellation of de Hambledon, taken from a place so called in Leicestershire, was first adopted by Sir William, brother to the fourth Earl of Leicester and Mellent. In the reign o Edward II. noted for favoritism, this Sir William had the misfortune to be insulted by John Spencer, one of the court parasites, whom he slew for refusing to fight him; and being in consequence advised to abscond, he fled into Scotland, where he was kindly received by Robert Bruce,
