Susan Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton


Susan Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton, formerly Susan Euphemia Beckford, was the wife of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, and the mother of the 11th Duke.
Susan was born at Château La Tour, Vevay, in Switzerland. She was the daughter of William Thomas Beckford and his wife, the former Lady Margaret Gordon. Beckford was an art collector who made his home at Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran. He was the son of a Lord Mayor of London, William Beckford. Lady Margaret was the daughter of Charles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne.
Susan Beckford married the future duke, then a former MP and styled Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, on 26 April 1810 in London.
They had two children:
Her daughter, also named Susan, caused the duke and duchess some concern by eloping with Horatio Walpole, by whom she had an illegitimate child, born in 1849. She lived abroad with Walpole for a time but returned to Britain for a time in 1853.
The dowager duchess was a patron of the arts whose acquaintances included Alfred, Lord Tennyson. She inherited many of her father's works of art.