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James Hamish HAMILTON

James Hamish HAMILTON

Male 1900 - 1988  (87 years)

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  • Name James Hamish HAMILTON 
    Nickname Hamish 
    Birth 15 Nov 1900  Indianapolis, Indiana Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Emigration 1905  USA to Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 1988  London Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • James (Jamie) Hamilton was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, 15 November 1900, son of James Nelson Hamilton and Alice van Valkenburg, and moved to Scotland at the age of five at his father's bidding. He was married twice, firstly to Jean Forbes-Robertson (daughter of actor-manager Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson) in 1929, though the marriage ended in 1933, and then to Countess Yvonne Pallavicino of Rome in 1940, with whom he had one son, Alastair. He was educated at Rugby School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he excelled at rowing, going on to win the Olympic Eights Silver medal at the Amsterdam games in 1928. He remained a keen and active sportsman throughout his life, taking up golf in middle age after a youth of skiing, hiking, rowing and recreational piloting. After graduating from Cambridge in 1922, he travelled extensively throughout the United States, where he began to build up a web of contacts in publishing that would stand him in good stead for the rest of his life.

      In 1924 he joined Jonathan Cape before becoming the London Manager for Harper & Brothers in 1926, eventually rising to found Hamish Hamilton, Ltd., in 1931. During World War II, he served in the Army in Holland and France, evacuating in 1940 before being seconded to the American Division of the Ministry of Information in 1941. A daredevil pilot, diver and skier, Hamish Hamilton had a famously low threshold of boredom, despising committees and meetings, even though he was Honorary Secretary of the Kinsmen Trust from 1942 until 1956 and a governor of the London Old Vic from 1945 to 1975. It is thought his refusal to sit on boards such as the Publishers' Association was responsible for keeping him from receiving a Knighthood, though he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1953 and a Grande Officiale of Italy's Order of Merit in 1976. He died in London in October, 1988.
    Person ID I000370  Mills/Rushton Family History
    Last Modified 5 Dec 2011 

    Father James Nelson HAMILTON   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Alice VAN VALKENBURG   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Relationship Birth 
    Family ID F000138  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Jean A FORBES-ROBERTSON,   b. 16 Mar 1905, St. Pancras Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Dec 1962, Charing Cross Hospital, London Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 57 years) 
    Marriage 1929  St. Giles In The Fields Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Sep Q 1929 1b 1406 St. Giles
    • Marriage dissolved 24th April 1933
    1929 Marriage of Jean Forbes-Robertson and James Hamilton
    1929 Marriage of Jean Forbes-Robertson and James Hamilton
    Divorce 1933 
    Family ID F000137  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 3 Mar 2018 

    Family 2 Countess Yvonne PALLAVICINO,   b. 16 Jun 1907   d. 25 May1993, 34, Kingsmill Terrace, London. NW8 Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage 1940  Rome Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Professor Alastair Andrew Hamish HAMILTON,   b. 20 May 1941 (Age 82 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Family ID F000139  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart