The life of Thomas Hamilton, First Earl of Haddington (1563-1637)

Abstract

The activities of Thomas Hamilton, first Earl of Haddington, during his fifty years of prominent public service, are so numerous and many -sided, that some definition of the scope and content of this essay is necessary.ere we to note and comment upon each and every incident with which his name is connected, we should be writing rather the history of the Privy Council, of the Court of Session, indeed, in many respects; of Scotland itself, over a period of about fifty years, rather than that of one man. One glance, for example, at the index pages of any of the relevant volumes of the Privy Council Register will reveal to the research student that his difficulties will not be those of inadequacy of material, but rather of discrimination and selection.The guiding principle in this essay has been to select from the mass of his activities as judge, lawyer, lawyer, and statesman, and chiefly those which are national in their incidence and importance, and to omit or pass lightly over those innumerable details which constituted the routine -work of one who was indefatigable in his devotion to duty.