 Shortly after inheriting a Scottish and Irish peerage from a second cousin, he was created a Viscount in Ireland for his services to the Williamite cause.James was born in 1661 or 1662 the eldest son of James Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth Colepeper.His father was a colonel in the English army, Hyde Park Ranger, a groom of the bedchamber to Charles II of England, and a member of a cadet branch of the Abercorns.