Matthew Hamilton of Milnburn and Binning (died 1564) was a Scottish landowner and courtier.
Early life He was a son of Matthew Hamilton in Milnburn or Mylnburn or Milburne in Dalserf.David Hay Fleming,Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1921), p. 23. The Mill Burn flows into the River Clyde north of the village.
Career Matthew Hamilton was appointed a gentleman and squire in the king's household in 1529.David Hay Fleming, Register of the Privy Seal, 1542-1548, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1921), p. 35 no. 297.
In February 1542 James V of Scotland sent Robert Hamilton of Briggis and Matthew Hamilton of Milnburn to France. They were allowed to return by Regent Arran in January 1543.David Hay Fleming & James Beveridge, Register of the Privy Seal, 1542-1548, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 6 no. 32.
He was a Master of Household to James Hamilton, Regent Arran, and Captain of Blackness Castle.Marcus Merriman, Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), p. 336. In 1545 he was paid for "furnishing" the Regent's house (with food), and paying household fees.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1541-1546, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. lxxxii. John Knox identifies Matthew Hamilton as an opponent of the Scottish Reformation in 1559, and his brother Master John Hamilton as an unlearned cleric.David Laing, Works of John Knox, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1846), pp. 207, 329.
John Hamilton of Milnburn Master John Hamilton of Milnburn transported some of Regent Arran's silverware to Aberdour Castle in 1543 when it served as a pledge for a loan.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 242. He was Master of Works to Mary, Queen of Scots in 1547, and sent as ambassador to France. According to John Knox he fell and died at Dumbarton Castle on his return.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1546-1551, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), pp. lxv, 134. In 1543 John Hamilton was paid in connection with attempt of Arran to divorce his wife, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Arran.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 1541-1546, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. lii, lxxxvi. John Hamilton began building a rampart and blockhouse at Edinburgh Castle in February 1547. This work was completed as the spur fortification by an Italian military engineer, Migliorino Ubaldini.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1547-1563, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 5: Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 56.
Personal life The children of Matthew Hamilton and his wife Agnes Livingstone included: Henry Hamilton, who died before his father. His daughter or step-daughter may have been a daughter of Agnes Livingston by her first marriage; Libra Hamilton alias Robertson, who married firstly, Andrew Home of Prendergast, in Ayton. After his death she had the mills of Eyemouth and Coldingham in life-rent, and married William Home of Ayton.HMC Manuscripts of David Milne Home of Wedderburn (London, 1902), pp. 207, 237. Libra Hamilton, Lady Ayton, was one of the women invited to wait on Anne of Denmark at her coronation in May 1590.Maureen Meikle, 'Anna of Denmark's Coronation and Entry', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), p. 284. In 1600 Anne of Denmark's tailor Peter Sanderson went to law over her debt of £54 for workmanship and merchandise supplied to her and her daughters and servants.Winifred Coutts, The Business of the College of Justice in 1600 (Edinburgh, 2003), p. 162. Another contemporary called Libra Hamilton, (died 1592), was the wife of John Hamilton of Barncluith.
Matthew Hamilton, who had continued to serve James Hamilton, the former Regent Arran, returned his papers in November 1564.Jane Harvey McMaster and Marguerite Wood, HMC Supplementary report on the manuscripts of the Duke of Hamilton (London, 1932), p. 2. Following Matthew Hamilton's death in December 1564, Hamilton's estate passed to his brother, Robert Hamilton, in 1569.
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