Elizabeth Hamilton (2) (1758–1816)

Elizabeth Hamilton was born in Belfast, Ireland, into a Scottish family. Her father died before she was a year old, leaving his widow and three children with no means of financial support. Elizabeth was sent to live with her paternal aunt and uncle, the Marshalls, near Stirling, Scotland. They paid for her to attend boarding school, where she studied writing, geography, French, drawing, music, and dance. When she was 14, the Marshalls moved to Ingram's Crook in rural Scotland and that same year, Elizabeth was briefly reunited with her brother Charles, who was going off to work for the East India Company. Through their subsequent correspondence, Charles supplemented his sister's education by suggesting a reading list of books and discussing them with her. Elizabeth's relationship with Charles was the most influential of her life. When he returned to Scotland with a commission to translate the Hedaya, a commentary on Islamic laws, into English, Elizabeth served as his research assistant. In 1788, she accompanied him to London, where they lived together for two years. When Charles finished the Hedaya and was reappointed abroad, Elizabeth returned to Ingram's Crook. A few months later, she received the news that Charles had died of consumption. He had urged Elizabeth to pursue a literary career, and after his death she published Eastern scholarship, as well as historical, educational, and theoretical works. Her three-volume satirical novel Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800) brought her fame and in 1804, she was awarded a royal pension from King George III. That year, she moved back to Scotland, settling in Edinburgh, where she was part of a lively social scene and managed the Edinburgh House of Industry, a women's shelter and training facility. Her 1806 book The Cottagers of Glenburnie achieved both critical and popular success. Elizabeth continued to write and publish until 1816, when she died while undergoing treatment for an inflammation of the eye.