Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767–1852)

After another stay in Italy, Alexander married Susan Euphemia Beckford (1786–1859), a distant cousin and the youngest daughter of his good friend (and collecting rival!) William Beckford, in April 1810. Alexander was 20 years older than his young bride and the marriage was undoubtedly arranged for financial gain. At the age of ten, Beckford had inherited vast sugar plantations in Jamaica and thousands of enslaved African workers – he was one of the richest men in Britain at this time. As well as a substantial dowry, Beckford agreed to pay Alexander and Susan an allowance every year after their marriage. The couple had two children together: William (later the 11th Duke of Hamilton) was born in 1811 and their daughter, Susan, was born in 1814.

The Hamilton family derived much of its wealth in this period from coalfields in Lanarkshire. However, the majority of this wealth and the family’s assets were controlled by Alexander’s father, Archibald, 9th Duke of Hamilton; Alexander himself had a relatively modest income. The additional money from his marriage to a wealthy heiress allowed him to continue collecting rare and valuable objects.

Throughout the 1810s, through his agents and friends on the Continent, he purchased rare manuscripts, early printed books, art and artefacts. Alexander was a supporter of the Emperor Napoleon, and in 1812 he commissioned the painting The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries by the French artist Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825). This painting, now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, has become an iconic image of Napoleon, and helps to highlight the quality and continuing importance of Alexander’s collection even today.

The 9th Duke of Hamilton died in February 1819 and, as the eldest son, Alexander inherited his titles and estates. From 1819, Alexander redeveloped the family’s principal residence, Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire, to create an opulent setting for his ever-increasing collection of art. Like the 3rd Duchess before him, he wanted a grand and monumental building that would represent the wealth, power and influence of the Dukes of Hamilton. Plans to expand Hamilton Palace had been drawn up in the 1730s by the leading Scottish architect of the period, William Adam (1689–1748), for James, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–43) but the work had never been completed. Within just a few months of inheriting his title, Alexander had commissioned the Neapolitan architect Francesco Saponieri (dates unknown) to produce several new designs for the north front of the Palace, most likely based on Adam’s original drawings. Saponieri’s drawings are dated from Rome and it’s likely that Alexander met the architect during his residence in Italy some years before.

The final design for the building was completed by the Glasgow architect David Hamilton (1768–1843) in collaboration with Alexander. The magnificent, classically inspired north front of the Palace took almost 20 years to complete: it was over 80m long and decorated with a spectacular Corinthian portico supported by 7.6m-high columns. Central to the new Palace was an impressive entrance hall and grand staircase, where the 10th Duke could display some of his finest works of art. The imposing black marble staircase was carved by the sculptor Patric Park (1811–55), who had worked on the Palace portico while still a teenager. The Duke used black marble throughout the new interiors at Hamilton, from doorways to chimneypieces, and he may have been responsible for the similarly fine black marble fireplace in the Old Library at Brodick Castle, which was probably installed during the extension of the castle in the mid-1840s.

Alexander died at the family’s London residence in Portman Square on 18 August 1852. The 10th Duke of Hamilton was remembered for his family pride and elevated sense of self-importance, and his burial provided a bizarre ending to the life of a man described in one obituary as ‘the proudest man in England’. Throughout his life he had been an avid collector of Ancient Egyptian artefacts and he was fascinated by the process of mummification. He requested that, upon his death, his body should be mummified and interred in a sarcophagus.

His directions were duly followed, and his body was prepared by the surgeon and antiquarian Thomas Pettigrew (1791–1865) and entombed in a sarcophagus from the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC). Alexander had purchased this sarcophagus in Paris in 1836 for the British Museum, where he had been a Trustee since 1834. He believed the sarcophagus belonged to an Egyptian prince; however, it was reported that the sarcophagus was in fact designed for a woman, and the Duke’s legs had to be broken in order to fit.

The sarcophagus was interred in the Hamilton Mausoleum in the grounds of the Palace from its completion in 1858 until 1921, when subsidence across the estate lead to the demolition of Hamilton Palace. The family remains were moved to the nearby Bent Cemetery.

In the next article in this series, we’ll take a look at Alexander’s father-in-law and friend, William Beckford, and explore how the huge profits from his Jamaican sugar plantations (worked by enslaved Africans) facilitated the purchase of his remarkable collection.

This series of blogs would not have been possible without the expert knowledge and generosity of internal and external colleagues. Particular thanks are due to Dr Godfrey Evans for his extensive research on the Hamiltons and their collections; Dr Amy Frost for taking the time to discuss her work on Beckford, his Jamaican plantations and their enslaved workers; Dr Bet McLeod for sharing her knowledge on William Beckford and the Hamilton ceramics; and to Sue Mills, Education Officer at Brodick, for always being patient and generous with her knowledge of the castle.