Thomas Hamilton was born in Belfast and educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen's College, Belfast. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and served in York Street Church from 1865 to 1889, when he was appointed President of Queen's College, Belfast where he took first-class honours and two gold medals in science. He gained Doctorates of Divinity (Aberdeen) and Laws (Royal University of Ireland) and established a newspaper, The Witness. He was Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast, the successor body to Queen's College, from its establishment in 1908 until 1923, and in 1921 was appointed a Privy Councillor. He published among other works a History of the Presbyterian Church and Irish Worthies. He married in 1876 Miss Frances Allen, who predeceased him; they had one son and two daughters. His portrait by Rosamund Praeger is on display in the Great Hall, Queen's University, Belfast.

Born:	1842
Died:	1926