William Richard Hamilton was born in London in 1777. In 1799 he
accompanied Lord Elgin to Constantinople as private secretary, and was
employed by that nobleman (British Ambassador to the Porte) to bring
from Rome those artists who assisted him in his selection of certain
statues and friezes, known as the Elgin Marbles, which are now in
the British Museum. These marbles were placed on the _Mentor_,
this ship being wrecked in September 1803, near the Island of Cos.
Hamilton, who was on board, saved most of these priceless relics of
antiquity by his presence of mind and intelligence.
He travelled shortly afterwards in Egypt, and published in 1809 a book,
“Egyptian Monuments,” which was the first work of any importance on
that subject since the days of Herodotus.
Mr. Hamilton was permanent Under Secretary at the English Foreign
Office from 1809 to 1822; British Minister to the Court of Naples from
1822 to 1829, and President of the Geographical Society in London from
1837 to 1841.