William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton , described as, "The head of the most illustrious of our historic families, whose origin is hid in the mists of antiquity, and whose deeds are interwoven with the most momentous events in the history of our country; the possessor of the highest rank and of titles unrivalled as regards both their number and their renown--a triple dukedom, a triple marquisate, four earldoms, and seven baronies; premier peer of Scotland, male heir of the 'doughty Douglases,' the representative in the female line of the 'princely Hamiltons'--at one time the heirs, after the Stewarts, to the Scottish crown--owner of their vast estates extending over four counties, situated for the most part in the richest districts of the kingdom, and yielding a rental of 157,602 pounds a year." Keir Hardie said, "On the death of the Duke of Hamilton, 1895 The Rt. Hon. Sir William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas Hamilton, Twelfth Duke of Hamilton, and Ninth duke of Brandon, Marquis of Douglas, and Clydeside, Earl of Angus, Arran, Lanark and Selkirk and Lord Hamilton, Avon, Pelmont, Maihanshire, Innverdale, Abernethy, Jedborough Forest, Dare and Shotclough, Baron of Dutton in the County of Chester, Duke of Chatelherault, Hereditary Keeper of Holyrood House, Premier, Peer and Knight Marischal of Scotland is dead. He carried the weary burden of his titles for 50 years and then quietly laid them down by the shores of the blue Mediterranean. "
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