Hugh Hamilton

Hugh Hamilton (26 March 1729 – 1 December 1805) was a mathematician, natural philosopher (scientist) and professor at Trinity College Dublin, and later a Church of Ireland bishop, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh and then Bishop of Ossory.

Life He was born at Knock, near Balrothery in County Dublin (now Fingal), on 26 March 1729, the eldest son of Alexander (died 1768) and Isabella Hamilton. Hugh's siblings included George Hamilton, Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) and Charles, father of the wealthy Canadian lumber merchant and politician George Hamilton.

Hamilton entered Trinity College Dublin on 17 November 1742 at the age of 13 with Thomas McDonnell as his tutor. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1747 and Trinity Master of Arts (MA Dubl) in 1750. He was appointed Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin in 1759 and that same year graduated Bachelor of Divinity (BD). and graduated Doctor of Divinity (DD) in 1762.

Trinity College presented him to the rectory of Kilmacrenan in the diocese of Raphoe, County Donegal, in 1764. This was a small living in the gift of the college, for which he resigned his fellowship. He retained the Erasmus Smith's chair, however, He resigned from Kilmacrenan in 1767 and become vicar of St. Anne's in Dublin.

He then became Dean of Armagh, the chief resident cleric of St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, from April 1768 to 1796. The house was later sold by the church and the present owners provide bed and breakfast accommodation in it. While dean he also acted as treasurer for the infirmary or county hospital, he established Sunday schools in the districts of the parish, and he founded a charitable loan for poor tradesmen. He was also instrumental in planning a piped water supply for the town, which was later put into effect. Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait in about 1790.

He was promoted to Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh on 20 January 1796, without seeking it. where he was bishop until 1805. He died of a fever at Kilkenny on 1 December 1805. He was buried in the graveyard of St Canice's Cathedral at Kilkenny, and there is a memorial to him inside the cathedral.

Works Hamilton wrote a mathematical treatise on conic sections called De Sectionibus Conicis: Tractatus Geometricus, published in 1758. The work was acclaimed for its lucidity and Leonhard Euler described it as a perfect book. It was "soon adopted in all the British universities" and Hugh, who married Elizabeth Staples, a daughter of John Staples, a Member of Parliament. The younger Hugh was the great-grandfather of Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C. S. Lewis. Bishop Hugh Hamilton was a great-great-great-grandfather of the mathematicians John Lighton Synge and his brother Edward Hutchinson Synge. Dodgson Hamilton Madden, the High Court judge and noted scholar, was the Bishop's great-grandson.