NAMING OF HAMILTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18117, 15 June 1922, Page 9

NAMING OF HAMILTON.

Sir, —In a letter published in the Herald Mr.. 'Robert Swayne claims to have arrived in Cambridge in 1865 and that he had repeatedly heard it asserted that Hamilton was named after Colonel Hamilton of the 12th, and not after Commander -Hamilton of the Esk. As I have lived in Hamilton and neighbourhood for 54 vears, I claim to have some knowledge of the above eubject. When I first arrived in Hamilton in 1868 I had with me a letter of introduction to Captain Steele, who then was living on his selection at Sunnyside, and through him I bought the late Dr. Beale s selection of 200 acres. In consultation with him I incidentally asked why they had given the settlement the name of Hamilton, and I quite remember his answer. It was that at the officers' mess someone mentioned the bravery and death of the lace Commander of the Esk, and a suggestion was made that the settlement should be named after him. I also got something like the same answer from Ensign John Crawford, whose 200-acre selection I also bought. Another correspondent said that Captain Hamilton lived in Hamilton and planted a lot of trees on the roads in Hamilton. As to that, the facts are that the first trees planted in Hamilton were planted in 1867 in Hamilton East by the Hamilton East Town Board by Mr. Alfred Potter, chairman, and your humble servant, his secretary. % Isaac Coates. Manurewa, June 13, 1922.