Anthony Hamilton

Anthony Hamilton PC (Ire) (c. 1645 – 1719), also known as Antoine and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, his parents brought him to France in 1651 when Cromwell's army overran Ireland.

At the Restoration the family moved to England and lived at Whitehall. When Catholics were excluded from the army, Anthony followed his brother George into French service and fought in the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). He was wounded in the Battle of Entzheim. After the accession of the Catholic James II in 1685, he joined the Irish Army and fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War (1689–1691). He saw action in the battles of Newtownbutler and the Boyne. The defeat led him to his last French exile.

In France Hamilton lived at the exile court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye where he became a courtier, poet, and writer. He chose French as his language and adopted a light and elegant style, seeking to amuse and entertain his reader. He wrote the Mémoires du Comte de Grammont, which focuses on the time his brother-in-law Philibert de Gramont spent at the court of Charles II. These memoirs are a classic of French literature and a source for the history of the Stuart Restoration. Hamilton also wrote many letters, poems, and five tales.