| Lord Anne Hamilton | |
| Birth Date: | 12 October 1709 |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Death Place: | France |
| Resting Place: | St James's Church, Piccadilly |
| Known For: | marrying Britain's richest woman |
| Occupation: | Aristocrat |
| Children: | James Hamilton Charles Powell Hamilton Gerard Anne Edwardes |
| Parents: | James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton Elizabeth Gerard |
Lord Anne Hamilton (12 October 1709 – 25 December 1748) was a Scottish nobleman. He is said to have married the richest woman in Great Britain and they had a child.
Hamilton was born at St. James's Square, London, the third son of Lieutenant-General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, and his wife the Honourable Elizabeth Gerard, daughter of Digby Gerard, 5th Baron Gerard. His feminine forename is due to his being named after his godmother, Queen Anne. Hamilton's other godparents were John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland.[1] Hamilton was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards as an ensign on 4 April 1731, and resigned in May 1733.[2]
thumb|260px|right|"Edwards Hamilton family on a Terrace", 1734 by William HogarthLord Anne Hamilton reputedly married Mary Edwards, in or before 1731, in a clandestine marriage said to have been in the chapel of the Fleet Prison. It was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine but the chapel records do not include details and Mary Edwards denied it and never changed her name.[3] She was the daughter and heiress of Francis Edwards of Welham Grove, Leicestershire. She was one of the greatest heiresses of her day with an annual income of between £50,000 and £60,000. Lord Anne assumed Mary Edwards' name and arms as Lord Anne Edwards Hamilton. Their portraits were painted by William Hogarth with their son Gerard Anne Edwards.[4] Mary Edwards also commissioned Hogarth to paint Taste in High Life in 1742. The couple had one child, a son:
Sometime after 1734, because she felt that Lord Anne was becoming spendthrift with her money, Mary Edwards left him and took the extraordinary step of repudiating her marriage. She declared herself a single woman and took steps to create evidence that no marriage had ever taken place;[5] their child, Gerard Anne Edwards, was rendered illegitimate, and took his mother's surname.
After this unprecedented development, Hamilton married Anna Charlotta Maria Powell, daughter of Charles Powell, in October 1742. They had two sons:
Hamilton died in France at the age of 39, and was buried at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 7 July 1749.[6] [7] Upon the death of the 12th Duke of Hamilton in 1895, without male issue, Lord Anne's descendant, Alfred Douglas-Hamilton succeeded to the dukedom of Hamilton.
. Daniel Mackinnon . Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards . II . Richard Bentley . London . 1833 . 478–479 .