John Hamilton

John Fane Charles Hamilton (28 September 1820 – 29 April 1864) was a British naval officer, after whom the city of Hamilton, New Zealand, is named. A statue of him stood in the centre of Hamilton from 2013 to 2020. Biography Early life Hamilton was born in 1820 in Hildersham, Cambridgeshire, England, where he was christened on 15 July 1821. His parents were Colonel John Potter Hamilton (es) (1778–1873) and Charlotte Hamilton (nee Fane) (1787–1869, a daughter of Oxfordshire farmer and Tory MP John Fane), who married on 28 December 1813. Rear-Admiral Francis Fane (1778–1844) was his uncle. Naval career Hamilton joined the Royal Navy on 28 August 1835, presumably as a midshipman. He served in the First Opium War, taking part in "the taking of Amoy, the storming of Chinghae, the attack on the Chinese entrenched camp on the heights of Segoan, the capture of Chapoo, and the engagement with the enemy’s batteries at Woosung" whilst serving under Captain Thomas Bourchier of HMS Blonde, and in the boat action under Captain George Goldsmith which destroyed "10 fire-vessels with which the Chinese had attempted to annihilate the British shipping and transports at their anchorage off Chinghae".