Hamilton was born in India on 13 May 1880, the son of T S Hamilton of the Indian Civil Service. He was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and took the Conjoint Diploma and the London MB in 1903, proceeding to the Fellowship in 1904. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Indian Medical Service in 1905, and promoted Captain in 1908. During the first world war he saw active service in the East African campaign, was promoted Major in 1915, was twice mentioned in despatches, and won the Military Cross in 1917. He went on active service again in Afghanistan in 1919 and in Waziristan in 1921-24, and was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1924. After acting as staff and civil surgeon at Poona, he was transferred to civil employment at Bombay, where he became Professor of Midwifery and Gynaecology at Grant Medical College. He was created in 1930 a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, and retired in 1934. He retired to Kingston-on-Thames where for twenty-five years he took an active part in local affairs, serving as chairman of the Kingston Medical Board from 1940. After his wife's death, since they had no children he went to live with relatives at Walton-on-Thames, where he died on 10 May 1965, three days before his eighty-fifth birthday. Hamilton was a kindly, mild-mannered man. He had been a keen supporter of the Bombay Turf Club, and was known to his colleagues as 'Mu', the Hindi for potato. In retirement he enjoyed playing bridge and listening to music.