Painter in oil of major sea battles of the twentieth century and historical sailing ships, notable for accurate detail. After Bradfield College he served in the Army in the Far East, winning the Military Cross. After the war he worked in a Suffolk Borstal; went to the Gold Coast to start the approved school system there; after eight years returning to England to work in industry. Holidaying in Tresco, in the Scilly Isles where he later settled, he decided to become a painter, in which he was self-taught. His first big collection covered the war in the Atlantic, over 70 pictures now in the Imperial War Museum’s HMS Belfast. The war in the Pacific was depicted in about 100 pictures, now in the Pentagon, in America; there was also a series on the Falklands campaign; and Hamilton then started on a run of 200 Antarctic paintings, setting up a branch of the Antarctic Heritage Trust in 1992.