The significant Great War “On Active Service” General Officer Casualty, 1914 to 1915 operations Southampton Troop Embarkation Officer’s June 1915 Order of the Bath, Salonica Campaign 1915 Base Commandant, Chin-Lushai Expedition 1890, Reconquest of the Sudan 1898, and 1916 to 1918 Special Service Officer’s Belgium Commander of the Order of the Crown group awarded to Brigadier General The Honourable A.B. Hamilton, C.B., King’s Own Scottish Borderers. Hamilton was a descendant of a well heeled Irish family, the Hamiltons of Killeter, County Tyrone, and was commissioned into the army in January 1881. He saw service out in India and Burma and as such was present in the Chin-Lushai Expedition from January to April 1890 with the 1st Battalion as part of the Gingaw Column. He then went on to see service out in Egypt at Alexandria, and with the reconquest of the Sudan, when serving with the Supply, Transport and Ordnance train as a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, was present at the Battle of Omdurman and the entry into Khartoum on 3rd September 1898. For his services, Hamilton was awarded a Mention in Despatches by Major General Herbert Kitchener in his despatch of 5th September 1898, and was promoted to Brevet Major. By the outbreak of the Great War he was the Embarkation Staff Officer and D.A.Q.M.G. to Southern Command, and as such was promoted to temporary Brigadier General and served as the Controller at Southampton, for which important work he was awarded a further Mention in Despatches and appointed a Companion of the Military Division of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the King’s Birthday Honours List in June 1915. He then became the Base Commandant at Salonica from 29th September through to 24th November 1915, in which capacity he welcomed the first British troops to land there, and he went on to hold a Special Appointment from May 1916 onwards in the Mediterranean, at home, and in Canada. In September 1917 he was additionally honoured with the award of the Belgian Order of the Crown for his earlier services as an Embarkation Commandant. Hamilton ultimately died in service owing to illness in December 1918.
Group of 9: The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Companion, C.B., Military Division, 1st type breast badge form, silver gilt and enamels, no hallmarks, complete with three pronged top brooch bar; India General Service Medal 1854-1895, 1 Clasp: Chin-Lushai 1889-90; (CAPT: A.B. HAMILTON 1ST: BN: K.O. SCO. BORD); Queen’s Sudan Medal 1896-1898; (CPT. A. B. HAMILTON. 2/K.O.S.BDS.); 1914-1915 Star; (BRIG: GEN: A.B. HAMILTON. C.B.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (BRIG GEN. A.B. HAMILTON.); Hong Kong Coronation Medal 1902, Bronze issue, unnamed as issued; Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1896-1908, 1 Clasp: Khartoum, unnamed as issued; Belgium: Order of the Crown, 3rd Class Commander Grade neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Memorial Plaque, named to; (ALEXANDER BEAMISH HAMILTON). Second to eighth mounted court style for display.
Condition: very light loss to enamel work on wreaths on first and last, overall Good Very Fine or better.
Together with an original studio photograph of the recipient in full dress uniform, wearing a ribbon bar of the second, third and eighth awards, and taken by the well known portrait photographers, Lafayette of London. This mounted onto its backing card, two corners of which are now missing.
The Honourable Alexander Beamish Hamilton was born on 22nd December 1860, the son of a Lieutenant Colonel The Honourable Samuel Beamish Hamilton, 25th Foot, and his wife, Marianne. He was a descendant of a well heeled Irish family, the Hamiltons of Killeter, County Tyrone. Having been educated in engineering through King’s College London, he then opted to follow in his fathers footsteps, when he was commissioned into the British Army on 22nd January 1881 as a 2nd Lieutenant into the 25th Regiment of Foot - the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. Shortly afterwards owing to the reformation of the army, he found himself serving with the 1st Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1st July 1881.
His battalion saw service out in India from October 1880 onwards, and he is known to have been at Peshawar as of July 1881. After various postings he was at Meerut as of January 1885 before moving to Delhi in 1888. From July 1886 he was serving as an Instructor in Army Signalling. He was then briefly posted home from July 1888 to attend the Staff College at Camberley, passing out the following year and returning to India.
Having been promoted to Captain on 11th December 1889, he was then present on operations in Burma during the period from 13th November 1889 to 30th April 1890 with the Gingaw Column commanded by Brigadier General W.P. Symons against the Chin Tribe, and is confirmed as present in the Chin-Lushai Expedition from January 1890 through to its end, being stationed as Rangoon in July 1890. His battalion returned home later that year.
Hamilton was the Battalion Adjutant from 1st March 1890 through to 29th December 1893, when having been posted to Egypt, he then found himself appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General from 10th December 1893 through to 16th December 1898 when with the garrison at Alexandria. During this period he partook in the reconquest of the Sudan with the Supply, Transport and Ordnance train, and was present at the Battle of Omdurman and the entry into Khartoum on 3rd September 1898. For his services during the reconquest of the Sudan, Hamilton was awarded a Mention in Despatches by Major General Herbert Kitchener in his despatch of 5th September 1898, as published in the London Gazette for 30th September 1898, and was promoted to Brevet Major on 16th November 1898.
After a further period of home service, Hamilton was once again appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General from 24th June 1901 through to 23rd August 1904 whilst on service out in Far East at China and at Hong Kong, during which period he was promoted to Major on 12th June 1901, and awarded the relatively scarce Hong Kong Coronation Medal 1902. This medal was issued to all British troops service at Hong Kong on the occasion of the Coronation of King Edward VII on 9th August 1902.
Hamilton was then posted to South Africa to the Orange River Colony as a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General from 12th October 1905, being still there when appointed a General Staff Officer 2nd Grade on 15th January 1908 on which date he was also promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He was then posted back home to take up the position of an Embarkation Staff Officer and D.A.Q.M.G. to Southern Command from 21st March 1911, and was promoted to Colonel on 4th October 1911, and then appointed an Embarkation Commandant and Assistant Quartermaster General to Southern Command on 10th October 1913. In this position he was serving on the outbreak of the Great War, and he was immediately promoted to temporary Brigadier General on 5th August 1914.
For his important services as the Embarkation Commandant and Assistant Quartermaster General to Southern Command when stationed as the Embarkation Controller at Southampton, he was appointed a Companion of the Military Division of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the King’s Birthday Honours List as published in the London Gazette for 3rd June 1915. In addition he was awarded another Mention in Despatches.
With the onset of the Salonica Campaign in October 1915, Hamilton was amongst the first to be sent there to assist in the landing of the British and French troops at Salonica, now Thessaloniki, where Hamilton served as a the Base Commandant for all troops disembarking, and specifically oversaw the disembarkation of Lieutenant-General Sir Bryan Mahon’s 10th (Irish) Division. Hamilton was one of five officers who welcomed them into the accommodation at the Greek barracks there, when a salute was paid to the city with bugles sounding and drums beating. Hamilton, who held the appointment of Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at Salonica from 6th September 1915, would then become the Base Commandant at Salonica from 29th September through to 24th November 1915.
Hamilton was then posted home and was placed on half-pay on 27th February 1916 before being returned to full-pay on 11th May 1916 on which date he took up a Special Appointment, though in what exact capacity it is unclear, though he is known to have seen service in the Mediterranean, at home and in Canada. Hamilton was awarded and granted permission to wear thee Commander Grade of the Belgian Order of the Crown for his services as an Embarkation Commandant, the awarded being published in the London Gazette for 24th September 1917. Hamilton lived at Affpuddle near to Purbeck in Dorset, and towards the end of the war was taken ill, and died shortly after the end of hostilities whilst still in service on 30th December 1918, being buried in Affpuddle (St. Laurence) Churchyard.
