Lord Claud John Hamilton (20 February 1843 – 26 January 1925) was a British Member of Parliament (MP)
Director of the Great Eastern Railway from 1872, becoming vice-chairman in 1874, and chairman in 1893, continuing as chairman until 1922.
1911 Testified before the Royal Commission on Railway Conciliation Boards
1925 Obituary[1]
"A long and distinguished career was brought to an end by the death of Lord Claud Hamilton, which occurred in London on Monday last. Lord Claud was not an engineer, but his extended connection with the Great Eastern Railway brought him much into contact with engineers. He was the second son of the Duke of Abercorn, his mother being Lady Louisa, the daughter of the Duke of Bedford. He was born on February 20th 1843, and received his scholastic education first of all at Bayford House in Hertfordshire, and afterwards at Harrow. At the age of nineteen her entered the Grenadier Guards, from which he retired at after five years' service, subsequently becoming Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He sat in the House of Commons at various times for Londonderry, King's Lynn, the West Derby Division of Liverpool, and South Kensington.
His connection with the Great Eastern Railway Company began as far back as 1872, when he was elected a director in a place of the late Lord Salisbury. He was made deputy chairman in 1875 and chairman in 1893, when he succeeded the late Mr C. H. Parkes. During his tenure of office many improvements were carried out in connection of the line, foremost among them being the improvement and enlargement of the Liverpool-street Station and the institution of steamship services between Harwich and continental ports. He was extremely popular with all grades of the staff of the line, in whose welfare he always took the keenest interest. One of his acts was severely criticised at the time and that was the appointment of the American, Mr H. W. Thornton as general manager of the company, but as the result of his chairmanship as a whole the line is in a very considerably better position now than when he first joined it.
In addition to his work for the Great Eastern Railway, Lord Claud was for a time the chairman of the Railway Clearing House, of the Railway Association, the East London Railway and of the Sheffield District Railway."
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1925/01/30