Sir Francis Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Killock

Francis was born in 1606,^[1] the eldest son of Claud Hamilton of Clonyn and his wife Janet Lauder.^[2] His father was the second son of Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick in Scotland. Francis was called "of Creichness" in Scotland and "of Clonyn" (County Cavan) in Ireland.^[3] Francis's mother was a daughter of Maurice Lauder, M.P., & Baillie Burgess of Dunbar in Haddingtonshire, Scotland^[4][5] by his third wife Alison Cass.^[6]

On 23 June 1610 Francis's grandfather Alexander was granted the great (2000 acres) proportion of Clonyn, also known as Tagleagh, in the Tullaghchinko (also called Tollochonee) precinct, County Cavan. This plantation precinct corresponds to the modern barony of Tullyhunco. He never came to see this proportion and his son Claud, Francis's father, took over its possession.^[8]

On 29 September 1628 Hamilton was created a Baronet in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia.^[9]

About 1630 Sir Francis, as he was now, married Laetitia Coote, daughter of Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet and his wife Dorothea Cuffe.^[10]

Francis and Laetitia had at least one child:

1. Sir Charles Hamilton, 2nd Baronet, of Castle Hamilton

In 1631 the three estates Clonkine, Carrotubber, and Clonyn, were consolidated in a manor that was originally called Castle Killagh, but was later known as Castle Hamilton.^[11] The mentioned estates correspond to the modern townlands Clonkeen, Corratober, and Clooneen, which all are in the barony of Tullyhunco of County Cavan. Castle Hamilton stands east of the village of Killeshandra.

He was a member of the Irish Parliaments of 1640–1649^[b] In the Irish general election of 1640 he was returned for one of the two seats of Jamestown Borough in County Leitrim.^[15]

He married Elizabeth Barlow after 1658 as her third husband. She was a daughter of Randolph Barlow, Archbishop of Tuam. She had married first William Hay, who had died in 1635 and then Sir Francis Willoughby, who had died in 1658.