miss Hamilton 9.8.1800 at La Moira's (in Ireland) / 25.10.1803 miss Hamiltons at H Rowan's / 4.11.1803 miss Hamilton & Rowans dine / 7.11.1803 miss Hamiltons at H Rowan's / 14.1.1805 adv A Hamilton at Rowan's / 19.5.1805 miss Hamilton at H Rowan's / 16.6.1805 mrs Rowan, mrs Beresford & miss Hamilton call / 20.6.1805 mrs H Rowan, mrs Beresford & 2, miss Hamilton, Plowdens & Northcote at tea
Archibald Hamilton Rowan DNB 1751-1834 was born Archibald Hamilton and obliged to adopt the surname Rowan in order to receive an inheritance though his son appears to have reverted to Rowan Hamilton. His eldest daughter Jane seems not to have married, his other daughters Elizabeth married her cousin Hamilton Beresford in 1819, Mildred married Edward Ryan in 1806, Harriet married Crofton Fitzgerald in 1813 and Francesca married William Fletcher in 1826 and they seem to have used the surname Rowan in their marriages, and Godwin who saw the Rowans in London quite a few times in 1804-6 mentioned "5 Rowans" in his diary more than once. Rowan only had one sister, Sidney Hamillton who married Benjamin Beresford in 1780, and all his aunts had married long before ( according to Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland). Hugh Douglas Hamilton DNB 1739-1808 whom Godwin noted 6 times in Dublin in 1800 (see Godwin's letter Bodleian Abinger c6 f23) had a daughter Harriott who finished some of his paintings after his retirement in 1804 or his death in 1808. She could have been the first entry above but it seems likely she would have stayed with her father in Dublin in his last years rather than socialise with the exiled Rowans in London. There is a letter in Bodleian Abinger b4 f102-3 dated 8.3.1805 from A Hamilton (in Devon, where she was wandering with Mr & Mrs Dennis) to Everina Wollstonecraft (in Dublin). which mentioned "Deane St , Mr Hamilton still there but talked of returning to Ireland by Scotland - a tolerable journey for a man of his time of life". This probably referred to Archibald Hamilton Rowan's father Gawen Hamilton (qv) 1729-1805; that he had been in London can be seen by four Godwin diary entries in June to Sept 1804, though between then and his death in April 1805 he didn't appear in the diary again despite Rowan appearing often. There is another letter Bodleian Abinger c8 f76-7 from Archibald Hamilton Rowan at 53 Dean St dated 25.9.1804 inviting Godwin to dinner on Thursday with Curran, as indeed Godwin went on 27.9.1804. The letter to Everina (a spinster) seems to me to have been from a woman, read it and judge for yourself. So she may have been the A Hamilton of 14.1.1805 at Rowan's, and perhaps the same as the miss Hamilton (plural in one instance) in 1803 and 1805 above. Who she or they may have been is hard to judge. Perhaps an illegitimate daughter of Gawen Hamilton? Or a governess or companion in the Rowan family? They may have been sisters of Archibald Hamilton 1778-1819 in William Rowan Hamilton mathematician Dict Irish Biog 1805-1865, who was an attorney and Rowan's agent, himself named after Rowan who was also godfather to his son William the mathematician. The two families were apparently unrelated. Rowan's agent Archibald Hamilton may himself have been the A Hamilton entry on 14.1.1805, he was in London on 3.8.1804 when he wrote a letter to his wife (Robert Perceval Graves "Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton" vol 1 p17). He was instrumental in helping Rowan be allowed to return to Ireland after his father Gawen's death in 1805. The only sister of Archibald Hamilton mentioned in Graves' book, which deals quite thoroughly with the family, was Jane Sydney Hamilton 1779-1814 who died unmarried and was learned in Latin and Hebrew (p.26). More could perhaps be gleaned by studying the original letters at Trinity College Dublin Library Mss 5123-33 & 7773-6 and see also Thomas L Hankins "Sir William Rowan Hamilton" 1980. There was also a cousin Arthur Hamilton 1776-1840 barrister in Dublin. A Miss A(nn) M(ary) Hamilton had novels published in London 1806 to 1813, her second in 1810 was called The Irishwoman in London, I haven't found any biographical information about her. Hamilton was however a common enough name for none of these speculations to have been correct. See also Hamilton, William