• Name: Hamilton, Samuel
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date:
• Death Date:
• Occupation: printer

There are a number of Hamiltons after Archibald Hamilton's death in 1791 and before 1817 The majority of which occur in 1815. Samuel is the strongest candidate for these entries, although there is indeterminacy for entries between 1793 and 1800.. For example, Godwin meets a Hamilton in 1796 with Mary Hays when Hays was reviewing for the Critical Review, which Archibald Hamilton Senior had founded. and which he co-edited with George Gregory until his death in 1793. It seems likely that the Critical was taken over by Archibald Hamilton III (Archibald Hamilton grandson) who seems to have traded at least until 1799, and then by Samuel Hamilton, his brother. It is unclear whether Samuel was involved from the beginning, and unclear whether Godwin is distinguishing between Archibald and Samuel. Given this uncertainy, the evidence that Samuel trades alone after 1799, and the few contacts between 1793 and 1810, we have coded all Hamilton's between 1793 and 1810 as Samuel, although users of the diary should be aware of the indeterminacy between the two brothers at least up to the end of the 1790s (Southey, who contributed to the Critical, refers to Samual Hamilton from May 1799 (See Roper, p. 21)..

Godwin notes a call from Marshall: 'M (Hamilton's fire)' on 3 Feb 1803 and The Times of 3/4 Feb 1803 reports the destruction of Mr Hamilton's Printing Office and the subsequent unemployment of 60 people which indicates a large and established business which had been built up over three generations. The 1815 entries look like they are connected with the publication of The Lives of Edward and John Philips which was printed by S Hamilton, Weybridge. There is a possibility that some of the earlier entries may refer to Archibald Hamilton III who also inherited the business with his brother. However, given Godwin's disinclination to distinguish between the two, the overwhelming use of letters to communicate (Samuel was based in Weybridge, Surrey), and the absence of Archibald III from any of the bibliographical sources from the period, Samuel is the more likely.

The British Book Trades Index gives three alternatives for Samuel Hamilton: one seems to have trading dates as 1797-1818, another 1799-1841. It is likely that there are at least two different individuals.

Samuel was the grandson of Archibald Hamilton and brother of Archibald Hamilton III. He was a printer who traded originally in Fleet St, then Holborn, and finally in Weybridge, Surrey. His premises burned to the ground in February 1803 and he was subsequently declared bankrupt in March 1805. It seems he then moved his business to Weybridge. Hamilton printed Shelley's Alastor.

Entries left uncoded include references to Dr Hamilton in 1794, 1804, and 1831; references to Curran's friend Hamilton in 1804; entries to Miss Hamilton between 1796 and 1805; entries to A Hamilton in 1804 and 1828; and a references to Captain Hamilton in 1795.

• The Times, 3 and 4 February 1803;
• DNB
• The British Book Trade Index
• John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, 9 vols (London, 1812-16)
• Ian Maxted, The London Book Trades, 1775-1800: A Preliminary Checklist of Members (Folkestone: Dawson, 1977)
• Derek Roper, Reviewing Before the Edinburgh London: Methuen, 1978)
• William B. Todd, A Directory of Printers and Others in Allied Trades, London and Vicinity 1800-1840 (London: Printing Historical Society, 1972)
• Ian Maxted, The British Book Trades, 1731-1806: A Checklist of Bankrupts (Exeter: J. Maxted, 1985)
• The Correspondence (1779-1843) of Mary Hays, British Novelist, ed. by Marilyn L. Brooks (Lewiston, Queenston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004), p. 299.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.