Who was John Robert Hamilton?

John Robert Hamilton was an architect, active in the mid-19th century. He is especially noted for his cemetery designs, which he often carried out with J M Medland.

Life and Work

Hamilton was born in Scotland, and had a significant practice in England before moving to North America in 1850.

In 1841, Hamilton became a new partner of Samuel Daukes (1811-1880). Daukes was established in practice in Gloucester and Cheltenham, designing for the rapidly developing railways. Among other commissions for mansions and churches, Daukes and Hamilton designed the main building of Royal Agricultural College near Cirencester, in Victorian Tudor style.

Together, Hamilton and Medland designed the buildings for the Anglican Warstone Lane Cemetery in Birmingham (opened 1848), won the competition for the Plymouth Cemetery, 1848, and designed the layout and buildings of the Welford Road Cemetery in Leicester (opened 1849).

Between 1852 and 1859, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton's business thrived, with a long list of private homes, churches, and several major public buildings. He moved to New York City, and then travelled the American south as a graphic journalist during and after the Civil War, and was again practicing architecture from New York in 1870.