William John Hamilton was born on July 5th, 1805 in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, England. He was the son of William Richard Hamilton, who was a geologist and antiquarian who specialized in the history of Egypt. He was educated first at the “Charter House, and subsequently at the University of Gottingen” (Cambridge Journal, 383). At the beginning of his career he was in the Foreign Diplomatic Service in Spain and France.

By 1831, “Hamilton had become a fellow of the Geological Society of London” (Wikipedia). The following year, he was elected one of its honorary secretaries. The year 1835 was Hamilton’s most important year as a geologist. “During that year, he made a geological tour of the Levant with Hugh Edwin Strickland, continuing on his own through Asia Minor and Armenia” (Wikipedia). Strickland was called back to England which was why Hamilton went through Asia Minor by himself.

According to his obituary, “Mr. Hamilton’s travels were not exclusively geological” )Cambridge, 384). His text, “Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia,” is referenced and mentioned that “his Eastern tour served to realize what as yet was undeveloped…and finally assigned to him a high position among modern English travelers.

Hamilton was elected president of the Geological Society again in 1865, two years before his death. His later research was mainly based in Tuscany and he was also an active Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was president in 1848 and 1849. Hamilton’s research on Asia Minor established him as an important British writer, geologist and traveler and he made extremely great contributions to the knowledge of Asia Minor. (Biography written by Courtney Meldrum, December 2013).

 

William John Hamilton’s book, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia, is available online through Google books. Click here to read.

 

Access Hamilton’s itinerary here.

 

To read more about William John Hamilton, please read Courtney Meldrum’s essay, which can be found here.