Anthony Hamilton ( – 1719), also known as Antoine and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer of literature. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, he fled with his family to France during the Interregnum and later sided with James II against the Prince of Orange, which led him into another French exile. As a soldier he fought in French service in the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678) and then in the Irish Army in the Williamite War (1688–1690) where he fought on the losing side in the battles of Newtownbutler and the Boyne. As a writer he chose French as his language and adopted a light and elegant style, seeking to amuse and entertain his reader. He is mainly known for the Mémoires du Comte de Grammont, which focuses on the time his brother-in-law Philibert, comte de Gramont, spent at the court of Charles II at Whitehall. Birth and origins Anthony was born in 1644 or 1645 in Ireland, probably in Nenagh, County Tipperary. He was the third son of George Hamilton and his wife Mary Butler. His father was Scottish, the fourth son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn. Anthony's father was an officer in the Irish Army and would in 1660 be created baronet of Donalong and Nenagh. Anthony's mother was Irish, the third daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and a sister of James Butler, the future first duke of Ormond. Her family, the Butler dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. Anthony's parents had married in 1629. Ormond had granted Anthony's father in 1640 the manor, castle, town, and lands of Nenagh for 31 years. Anthony was one of nine siblings, who are listed in his father's article. Both his parents were Catholic, but some relatives, on his father's as on his mother's side, were Protestants. His grandfather, James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, had been a Protestant, but his father and all his paternal uncles were raised as Catholics due to the influence of his paternal grandmother, Marion Boyd, a recusant. His mother's family, the Butlers, were Catholics except the future 1st Duke of Ormond, his maternal uncle. Irish childhood Hamilton was born during the Irish Confederate War, which had been partially halted by the Cessation, a truce concluded between the Confederates and King Charles I