Archie Hamilton

{{short description|British politician}} {{other people|Archibald Hamilton}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2010}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Hamilton of Epsom | honorific_suffix = PC | image = File:Official portrait of Lord Hamilton of Epsom 2020 crop 2.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2020 | office = Minister of State for the Armed Forces | prime_minister = Margaret Thatcher<br />John Major | term_start = 25 July 1988 | term_end = 27 May 1993 | predecessor = Ian Stewart | successor = Jeremy Hanley | office1 = Member of Parliament <br /> for Epsom and Ewell | parliament1 = | majority1 = | term_start1 = 27 April 1978 | term_end1 = 14 May 2001 | predecessor1 = Peter Rawlinson | successor1 = Chris Grayling | office2 = Member of the House of Lords | status2 = Lord Temporal | term_label2 = Life peerage | term_start2 = 17 June 2005 | term_end2 = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|12|30|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | birth_name = | party = Conservative | other_party = | spouse = | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = Trustee of Supporting Wounded Veterans, President of the Lest We Forget Association | signature = | website = }}

'''Archibald Gavin Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} (born 30 December 1941) is a British Conservative Party politician. A member of the House of Lords, he served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces under John Major.

==Background and education== Hamilton is the second son of the 3rd Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, a Lord-in-waiting to the Queen. The title was created for Hamilton's great-grandfather, John Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, who was a Liberal politician, and was inherited by his second son, Gavin Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, also a Liberal politician, before passing to his nephew, Hamilton's father. His mother, Rosemary Coke, was a daughter of Major Sir John Spencer Coke, son of Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester; her maternal grandfather was Harry Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham. Hamilton is the younger brother of the 4th Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, and was born at Beckington Castle, Beckington, Somerset, which was then his parents' country house.<ref>'Births' column in ''The Times'', Friday, 2 January 1942, p. 1</ref> He was educated at Eton College.

==Political career== Hamilton was a Conservative councillor in Kensington and Chelsea from 1968 to 1971.<ref>{{cite web |title=1922 Elections Choses New Chairman (sic) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/05/0520/tory.shtml |website=BBC News |access-date=9 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250309103801/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/05/0520/tory.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 March 2025}} [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/05/0520/tory.shtml Alt URL]</ref> He initially attempted to enter Parliament for Dagenham at the February and October 1974 elections, but was defeated by Labour's veteran incumbent, John Parker. He won the seat of Epsom and Ewell at a 1978 by-election. He held it until his retirement from Parliament in 2001.

During his parliamentary career, Hamilton served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Energy (1979–81) and Transport (1981–82). From 1982 to 1984, he was Assistant Conservative Whip. In 1984 he became Lord Commissioner to HM Treasury, a position he held until 1986. From 1986 to 1987, Hamilton was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence.

Hamilton served as PPS to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1987–88), Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Armed Forces Minister, 1988–93) and was created a Privy Councillor in 1991. He was Chairman of the 1922 Committee from 1997 to 2001. Whilst an MP, he sat on the Standards and Privileges Committee (regarding Ethics of the Lords and Commons) in 1996. From 1994 to 1997, he also served on the Intelligence and Security Committee.

Hamilton was knighted in 1994.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53741 |date=22 July 1994 |page=10497}}</ref> On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and the peerage was gazetted on 17 June 2005 as '''Baron Hamilton of Epsom''', of West Anstey in the County of Devon.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=57681 |date=22 June 2005 |page=8113}}</ref> Since 2015, he has sat on the Joint Committee for the National Security Strategy. In March 2025, Hamilton made remarks during a House of Lords debate on the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre Bill,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-25 |title=Holocaust Memorial Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-03-04/debates/30CB6E45-DE7C-4061-B963-1E2C5E011170/details#contribution-55F43634-30CD-4AFF-9319-B4AAAAE46604 |access-date=2025-12-25 |website=hansard.parliament.uk |language=en}}</ref> which drew criticism; he later withdrew the comments and apologised.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=2025-03-05 |title=Conservative peer accused of using antisemitic tropes in Lords debate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/05/conservative-peer-accused-of-using-antisemitic-tropes-in-lords-debate |access-date=2025-12-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Personal life== Hamilton is a bridge player. He is a member of the Lords bridge team and the All Party Parliamentary Bridge Group. In 1968, he married Anne Catherine Napier (born 1940), daughter of the late Commander Trevylyan Michael Napier DSC, RN. (1901–30 August 1940) and poet and author Priscilla Hayter (1908–98), who produced books about Napier ancestors, poetry and an autobiography, ''A Late Beginner''. Anne is a sculptor and painter. The couple have three daughters and several grandchildren.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} In 2006, their youngest daughter Alice Rose Alethea Hamilton married Dominic Johnson, financier, hedge fund manager, and government minister.<ref name="Debrett">{{cite book |title=Debrett's peerage & baronetage : comprises information concerning the royal family, the peerage and baronetage. |date=2012 |publisher=Debrett's |location=Richmond, Surrey [England] |isbn=9781870520805 |page=638 |edition=147th }}</ref> Hamilton sits in the House of Lords, and is a trustee of Supporting Wounded Veterans,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.supportingwoundedveterans.com/executive-trustees|title=Supporting Wounded Veterans|website=SWV|language=en|access-date=2020-02-04}}</ref> as well as being the president of the Lest We Forget Association.

==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = centre|150pxcentre|200px |escutcheon = Gules an annulet Or between three cinquefoils Ermine pierced of the field a bordure of the second. |coronet = Coronet of a baron |crest = An antelope Proper armed and unguled Or. |supporters = Dexter a wildman Proper wreathed about the head and waist with laurel Proper and holding over the dexter shoulder a club Or sinister an antelope as matriculated in June 2008 in Scotland Proper armed unguled and gorged with a coronet attached thereto a chain reflexed over the back Or. |motto = Modo Ludos<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019 |page=2880}}</ref>}}

==References== * [http://biographies.parliament.uk/parliament/default.asp?id=45346 Official parliament.uk biography]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-archie-hamilton | Archie Hamilton }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Epsom and Ewell | years = 1978–2001 | before = Peter Rawlinson | after = Chris Grayling }} |- {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Michael Alison}} {{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister| years=1987–1988}} {{s-aft|after=Mark Lennox-Boyd}} |- {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=John Lee}} {{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement| years=1986–1987}} {{s-aft|after=Tim Sainsbury}} |- {{s-bef|before=Ian Stewart}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister of State for the Armed Forces|years=1988–1993}} {{s-aft|after=Jeremy Hanley}} |- {{succession box | title = Chairman of the 1922 Committee | years = 1997–2001 | before = Marcus Fox | after = Michael Spicer }} |- {{s-prec|uk}} {{s-bef|before=The Lord Foulkes of Cumnock}} {{s-ttl|title=Gentlemen'''<br />''Baron Hamilton of Epsom'' '''}} {{s-fol|after=The Lord Jones of Cheltenham}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Archie}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Hamilton of Epsom Category:Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Category:Epsom and Ewell Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Parliamentary private secretaries to the prime minister Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:Younger sons of barons Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Knights Bachelor Hamilton Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II