Hamilton, Gavin (1515 -1571)

Gavin Hamilton was the third son of James Hamilton of Raploch and Isabel Weir. Educated at St Leonard's College, St Andrews, he was appointed Rector of Hamilton and Dean of Glasgow before 1549, and Vicar General 1549 1550, during the vacancy of the See. He exchanged the Deanery of Glasgow for the Abbacy of Kilwynning, and is first called Commendator on an application for a passport to go to France 17 October 1551. At the same time he apparently obtained from the Pope his own appointment as coadjutor to John Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, with a salary of £400 a year and `Future elect' to that See. A strong opponent of the Reformation, he was committed to prison in 1561 for planning the murder of the Earl of Moray. With the other Hamiltons he fled to England in 1565, was proclaimed a rebel and escheated. He was the principal in the negotiations for the return of the Hamiltons, and accompanied the Duke of Chastelherault to France, supported Queen Mary at the Battle of Langside, and was killed in an affray on the streets of Edinburgh 28 June 1571. He married Margaret, second daughter of John Hamilton of Broomhill.