Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Notes for Rev Hans Hamilton
Legitimated on 5 Mar 1553.
From Burke's Extinct Peers for Viscount Clanboye, they start the lineage with the father of the 1st viscount:

"The Rev Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop, Ayrshire, b. 1539; m. Margaret Denham, dau of the laird of Weshiels and dying 30 May 1608, left ...."

and in a footnote to Hans H:

"In the churchyard of Dunlop there is a tomb erected to his memory and on a flag-stone in the floor is the following inscription:-- "Here lies Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop, who deceased the 30th May, 1608, at the age of 72 years; and Janet Denham his spouse."  Under a marble arch, within two pillars of the composite order, in front are two statues kneeling on a marble monument, in the attitude of devotion, and habited according to the fashion of the times.  There is also a long inscription on a marble slab in the wall, stating that he was the son of Archibald Hamilton of Raploch, and that his wife was Janet, 2nd dau. of Denholme, of Westshiels; that they lived together forty-five years, during which time he had served the cure of the church."
____________________________________

TFPL, Jan 2002:
It is clear that he was born John, otherwise Johannes, and so became known as Hans.  He was the illegitimate son of Archibald with a brother also Archibald; the Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland Volume IV has the following for 5th March 1553/54:

   "Preceptum Legitimationis ARCHIBALDI HAMMYLTOUN, JOHANNIS alia HANNIS HAMMYLTOUN, filiorum naturalium Archibaldi Hammyltoun de Raploch; WILELMI HAMMYLTOUN, KENTIGERNI HAMMYLTOUN, filiorum naturalium quondam Thome Hammyltoun de Raploch; ALEXANDRI HAMMYLTOUN, filii naturalis quondam Jacobi Hammyltoun de Stanehous; GEORGII BRONE, filii naturalis Johannis Broun in Auchlochane; et Jacobi Mowat, filii naturalis Thome Mowat in Castaris; in communa forma, etc.  Per Signnetum.  xxvi. 66."
- all very cogent...

"Archaeological and Historical Collections relating to the Counties of Ayr and Wigton", vol IV, pub 1884, has a chapter on the parish of Dunlop and gives some details of Hans:
Hans was almost certainly the first vicar after the Reformation, being appointed in 1563.
In 1574 He was reader, which he continued until 1596.
1606: he was unable to serve the cure [of souls] and was replaced.
1608, May 30th: he  died.

His and Janet's children were, six sons James, Archibald, Gavin, John, William and Patrick and one daughter Jean.  All the sons went to Ireland, the eldest sent by James VI in 1587 for the purpose of keeping up a correspondence with the protestants of that kingdom.  For further details, see their own entries.

Probably some time after Hans' and Janet's deaths, their eldest son James, by then Viscount Clandeboyes (I), erected a splendid memorial to his parents.  It is called the Picture House and is a building separate from the church.  Hans and Janet are buried therein, under the floor, and at the end of the apartment there is a monument of two kneeling figures, in the dress of their time and facing one another [obviously a fashion that stretched from Dunlop in the North to Whitchurch in the South].  On the basis that James became lord Clandeboyes in 1622 and died in 1643, this memorial building must have been built between those two dates.
______________________________

From Fasti Ecclasiae Scoticanae, vol 3, p. 90

Vicars of Dunlop from 1560 to 1930

Vicar from 1563 to 1607:

DUNLOP.
[The vicarage of Dunlop belonged to the Abbey of Kilwinning. Near it there was a chapel of St Mary. The stepping-stones across the Water of Glasert leading to the village of Dunlop were called Our Lady Steps. From 1518 to 1523 John Major was Vicar of Dunlop. The Parish Church was rebuilt in 1835.]

JOHN [or HANS] HAMILTON, born 1536, a natural son of Archibald H of Raploch ; promoted to the vicarage in 1563; probably John H., who was reader and exhorter in 1567, and reader in 1574. In 1606, being unable to serve the cure, another was presented ; died 30th May 1608. He marr. Janet (died 30th Jan. 1628), daugh. of James Denham of Westshields, and had issue James, school master at Dublin in 1587, tutor to Archbishop Ussher, created Viscount Claneboye in 1622, and Earl of Clanbrassill in 1647 died 20th June 1659; Archibald of Halcraig, ancestor of Killyleagh family ; Gavin of Ballygalley, merchant, Coleraine ; John of Tullimore; William of Bangor, Co. Down ; Patrick ; Jean (marr. William Mure of Glanderston). [Anderson s House of Hamilton ; Reg. Min. ; Reg. Sec. Sig. ; Reid s Ireland, i., 59 ; M Crie s Melville, ii. : Ind. Reg. Deeds ; Burke s Landed Gentry, Ireland; Tombst}

Corrigenda, vol 8, p. 230.

HANS HAMILTON, pres. to the vicarage 16th Dec. 1569 in succession to Mr John Hamilton; he was the great-grandfather of William Carstares, Principal of Edinburgh Univ. [1703-1715], and of William Dunlop, Principal of Glasgow Univ. [1690-1700], whose mother was Elizabeth Mure, daugh. of William Mure of Glanderston, by his wife, Jean, daugh. of Hans Hamilton. In the south-east corner of the churchyard there is a marble monument in memory of Hans H. and his wife. Erected by their son John, Viscount Clanderboyes, in the peerage of Ireland, it consists of a vaulted chamber under which they are buried, and is called the “Picture-House.” His son, Patrick, min. of Innerwick. [Reg. Pres. to Benefs., i, 33.]

NB: I suspect the “succession to Mr John Hamilton” is a misunderstanding that Hans was an abbreviation for Johannes, or John.
_____________________
Arms Generally notes for Rev Hans Hamilton
Carved on the Picture House at Dunlop:
  A heart between three cinquefoils pierced ermine.

Burke's Armory (1884), for Hamilton of Raploch gives:
  Gules a heart between three cinquefoils argent.

(Probably the arms of his son James, lord Clandeboyes.
Though those of his gt-gt-grandson Henry H. earl of Clanbrassil, were Gules, three cinquefoils pierced ermine and on a chief, or a lion passant gules. - Burke's Extinct peers.)
Last Modified 21 Dec 2020Created 14 May 2022 by Tim Powys-Lybbe
Re-created by Tim Powys-Lybbe on 14 May 20220