John Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Selkirk, 1st Earl of Ruglen (bapt. 26 January 1664/5 – 3 December 1744), known as Lord John Hamilton until 1697, was a Scottish nobleman.[1]
On 14 April 1697, he was created Earl of Ruglen, Viscount of Riccartoun and Lord Hillhouse in the Peerage of Scotland by William III of England. He served as Master of the Mint but was deprived of his post because of his opposition to the government.[1]
In 1739, his elder brother the Earl of Selkirk died, and he inherited the Selkirk title and some of his lands.[1]
William Hamilton (1696 – 20 February 1742), styled Lord Riccartoun until 1739 and then Lord Daer. He served in the Scottish army. He died apparently unmarried at Edinburgh, aged 45, "having got a chill after being overheated with dancing".[1]
Lady Susan Hamilton (1 November 1699 – 8 February 1763), married in 1738 her cousin John Kennedy, 8th Earl of Cassilis. She died without children.
The Earl married secondly, at Edinburgh, on 22 March 1701, Elizabeth Hutchinson Kennedy, the daughter of Charles Hutchinson of Owthorpe, Nottinghamshire, and widow of John, Lord Kennedy, his first wife's eldest brother.
She died in 1734. In 1744, he died in Edinburgh, aged 79, and was buried at Cramond.[1]
The Earldom of Selkirk, which could only pass through the male line, was inherited by his great-nephew, the grandson of his brother Lord Basil. His eldest daughter, Lady Anne Hamilton, succeeded as Countess of Selkirk. Her only son, William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry, became the 3rd Earl of Ruglen but died childless, and the earldom became extinct.[2]