Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hamilton, Edward Walter
HAMILTON, Sir EDWARD WALTER (1847–1908), treasury official, born at Salisbury on 7 July 1847, was eldest son of Walter Kerr Hamilton [q. v.], bishop of Salisbury, whose friendship with Gladstone descended to his son. His mother was Isabel Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Lear, dean of Salisbury. Educated at Eton (1860–5) and Christ Church, Oxford (1866–8), he entered the treasury in 1870, before he could take his degree. He was private secretary to Robert Lowe, chancellor of the exchequer (1872–3), to his father's friend, Gladstone (1873–4), and again to Gladstone in his second administration (1880–5). With Gladstone his relations were always intimate. Gladstone wrote to him, on his ceasing to be his private secretary (30 June 1885): 'As to your services to me, they have been simply indescribable' (Morley's Gladstone, iii. 210-1). Hamilton published 'Mr. Gladstone,' a monograph, in 1898, in the preface to which he speaks of himself as 'one who was privileged to know Mr. Gladstone for nearly forty years and still more privileged to have been brought into the closest contact with him for a considerable time,' In June 1885 Hamilton became a principal clerk in the finance branch of the treasury, in 1892 assistant financial secretary, in 1894 assistant secretary, and in 1902 permanent financial secretary and joint permanent secretary with Sir George Murray, until the autumn of 1907, when he was compelled by ill-health to retire from the service. He was made C.B. in 1885; K.C.B. in 1894; G.C.B. in 1906, and a privy councillor in 1908; he also held the honours of K.C.V.O. and I.S.O. He died, unmarried, at Brighton on 3 Sept. 1908, and was buried in Brighton cemetery.
As an official, Hamilton devoted himself to the financial rather than the administrative side of the treasury, and mastered the details of City business and banking. He was thus specially connected with Goschen's great financial measures, and published an account of them in 'Conversion and Redemption: an Account of the Operations under the National Debt Conversion Act, 1889' (1889).
Without striking brilliancy, Hamilton gained to a remarkable degree the confidence and affection of those whom he served. In nearly every case official relations led to private friendship. In personal life he found his chief interest in music, and he was the author of various musical compositions. His colleagues in the treasury presented him with his portrait by Mr. John da Costa in March 1908, after his retirement.
[Who's Who; The Times, 9 and 28 Oct. 1907, 4 Sept. 1908; private information.]