Cleric, social worker, sportsman.
Born at Forest, Ontario on 8 March 1864, son of David Hamilton and Elizabeth McPherson, brother of F. C. Hamilton, he was educated at the Lambton County public school, Toronto Business College, and McGill University (BA 1892, where he played on a championship rugby team) and Canada Congregational College (Montreal). He was awarded the Barbour Gold Medal and Calvary Church Oliver Medal in final year at the Congregational College. He took postgraduate work at the Chicago Theological Seminary then did practical social settlement work under Dr. Graham Taylor in Chicago in 1900. He served as Pastor of the Congregational Church at Forest, Ontario.
In 1909, he came to Winnipeg and became Associate Pastor with James L. Gordon of the Central Congregational Church. He was a delegate, with Rev. Dr. Silcox, to the Methodist Conference at Grace Church (Winnipeg) in September 1902. He served for several years on the Church Union Committee. He was an ardent temperance reformer. Because of his prominence in social welfare work, he was chosen in 1910 by Felix J. Billiardé, the new Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children, as Inspector of Foster Homes for the Child Welfare Division of the Department of Public Welfare, thus beginning his career in child welfare in Manitoba. After Billiardé was dismissed, Hamilton replaced him as the second Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children in Manitoba.
On 31 December 1910, he married Edna Irene Walker (?-?) of London, Ontario, with whom he had a son and a daughter.
He died at Selkirk on 22 April 1929 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
We thank Len Kaminski for providing information used in this profile.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 November 2010
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