Portrait of Lord John Hamilton 4th Earl of Selkirk (1665 -1744)

Portrait of Lord John Hamilton Earl of Ruglen 4th Earl of Selkirk, 4th son of Anne Duchess of Hamilton.
Painted c.1697 by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723)

John, 4th son of William 1st Earl of Selkirk and 3rd Duke of Hamilton and Duchess Anne, was created Earl of Ruglen in1697. The Earldom of Selkirk was regranted to his elder brother Charles in 1688 and John succeeded to that title on Charles' death in 1739.

He married first Lady Anne Kennedy, daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, in 1694, by whom he had three children, and in 1701 Elizabeth, widow of John Lord Kennedy, his first wife's eldest brother, and daughter of Sir Charles Hutchison of Owethorpe, Notts.

He outlived his only son, and the title of Earl of Selkirk passed on his death to his great-nephew Dunbar Hamilton of Baldoon, and the title of Countess of Ruglen to his daughter Anne.