Count
Gilbert Hamilton
Count Gilbert Hamilton in uniform of a Rittmeister 1927.
Personal details
Born20 March 1869
Died11 August 1947
EducationMilitary Academy Karlberg
Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (Honorary)
Military service
AllegianceSwedenSweden (1891-1947)
German EmpireGermany (1914-19) (1939)
FinlandFinland (1918)
Years of service1891–1947
RankColonel (Sweden) Generalmajor (Germany) – 1939
UnitLife Guards of Horse
1st Cuirassier regiment "Grosser Kurfürst"
Commands3rd Cuirassier regiment "Graf Wrangel"
Småland hussars
Battles/wars

Count Gustaf David Gilbert John William Hamilton, (20 March 1869 – 11 August 1947) was a Swedish noble and highly decorated soldier, holding Swedish, Finnish and German military honours.

Early career

Gilbert was born on 20 March 1869, in Hedensberg manor, Västmanland. He was the second son to Count Gustaf Malcolm Hamilton and his wife, Baroness Sophia Lovisa Barnekow.[1] His father was a Fideicommissum to Hedensberg, a post that his older brother Hugo Hamilton would later take over following their father's death.[2]

Gilbert started off his military career in 1891 when he graduated from Karlberg with the rank of second lieutenant. Gilbert tried to volunteer in the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 but was denied. He also tried to, but was denied entry in to both the Second Boer war (1899) and later the Russo-Japanese War (1904).

By the time of the start of the First world war, Hamilton was already a rittmeister (Captain) in the Swedish Army and at the time held command as Chief of the 2nd Squadron in the Royal Life Guards situated in Stockholm.

World War I

On 27 October 1914, Hamilton took discharge and left for Germany. Whence there he joined the German Army and went into Prussian service with the rank of Major. He served on the eastern front and partook in, among others, the famous Battle at Tannenberg which was a total German victory. He served as a cavalry officer and later as Squadron leader on the Austro-Hungarians Carpathian Front. Between the years 1915–18 he was chief over the 22nd reserve jaeger battalion which, at the time was stationed between Belarus and Ukraine directly north of the city of Pinsk. In 1918 he partook in the Finnish civil war as part of the much larger conflict, the Russian civil war, fighting for the whites against the reds. He did this as Commander of the Squadron "Hamilton" under the Brandenstein brigade as part of German Expeditionary corps Die Ostseedivision.

In June 1918 he was made Chief of the 3rd Cuirassier regiment "Graf Wrangel" in southern ukraine. When the Kaiser abdicated and went into exile in holland, and revolution had broken out across Germany. So at Christmas 1918, he was forced to make a 100 mile long march, comparable to those which the Caroleans undertook 200 years earlier. They made their journey via Kiev all the way back to Königsberg, during which they were constantly attacked in skirmishes. On February 20, 1919, they finally arrived in Königsberg and were received with cheers and a hero's welcome by the populace of the city.

Later life

After his return to Sweden in 1920, he was given command of the Småland hussars in Eksjö in 1921. Besides his military career he served as an adjutant to the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn for several weeks each year.[3][4]

On the 25th year anniversary, of the German Victory at Tannenberg, during a ceremony on the 25th of August, 1939, Adolf Hitler personally appointed him as an honorary General of the Wehrmacht, with the rank of Generalmajor in the Reserve.[5][6][3][4]

He remained fond and supportive of Germany until his death in 1947.

Honours and awards

National

Foreign

Military ranks

Gilbert Hamilton's Swedish promotions
Date Rank Insignia
13 November 1891 Second Lieutenant
Underlöjtnant
Sweden
10 October 1897 Lieutenant
Löjtnant
Sweden
1 May 1908 Rittmeister
Ryttmästare
Sweden
26 November 1920 Lieutenant Colonel
Överstelöjtnant
Sweden
21 October 1921 Colonel
Överste
Sweden
Gilbert Hamilton's German promotions
Date Rank Insignia
27 January 1915 Major
Major
German Empire Kingdom of Prussia
28 June 1916 Lieutenant Colonel
Oberstleutnant
German Empire Kingdom of Prussia
25 August 1939 Generalmajor in the reserve
(Honorary)
Generalmajor zur Ersatzheer
Nazi Germany

References

  1. ↑ "476 (Sveriges Ridderskaps och Adels Kalender / 1923 - Fyrtiosjätte Ã¥rgÃ¥ngen)". runeberg.org. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  2. ↑ "archive.ph". archive.ph. Archived from the original on 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2022-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. 1 2 "Hamilton, Greve Gilbert". Svensk Tobakshistoria (in Swedish). Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  4. 1 2 "G D Gilbert J W Hamilton". sok.riksarkivet.se. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  5. ↑ Sjöström, Oskar (2014-02-16). "Göran Nilzén, Carl Gyllenborg. En frihetstida hattpolitiker, Stockholm: Carlssons, 2007. (327 s.)". Sjuttonhundratal. 5: 131. doi:10.7557/4.2867. ISSN 2001-9866.
  6. ↑ "Hamilton nr 86 - Adelsvapen-Wiki". www.adelsvapen.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  7. ↑ Kungl. Svärdsorden. i Sveriges statskalender 1947bih
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Livgardet tillhäst. i Sveriges statskalender 1921
  9. 1 2 3 4 Smålands husarregemente. i Sveriges statskalender 1925
  • "Svenskar i Krig 1914-1945", Gyllenhaal, L., Westberg, L. (2004)
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