George Hamilton , 1st Earl of Orkney Field Marshal George Hamilton , 1st Earl of Orkney KT ( 9 February 1666 – 29 January 1737 ) was a British soldier and Scottish nobleman and the first British Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal . The son of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton , he fought for William of Orange in Ireland and the Low Countries . He was raised to the peerage in 1695 , and continued to serve with distinction in the War of the Spanish Succession . After these campaigns he retired from active service , taking on governorships and sitting as a representative peer in the House of Lords . Early life . Lord George Hamilton was born at Hamilton Palace , the fifth son of Anne Hamilton , 3rd Duchess of Hamilton and William Douglas , Earl of Selkirk . He was first trained by his uncles , Lord Dumbarton , Lord James Douglas , and Lord Angus , in military service in the 1st Regiment of Foot ( then known as " His Majesty ' s Royal Regiment of Foot " ) . Military career . Ireland and the Low Countries . In 1689 , after entering military service , he became a lieutenant colonel , and a few months later a brevet ted colonel . He and his regiment served at the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim in the Irish War . He then moved to command of the Royal Fusiliers and fought at the Battle of Steenkeerke . He moved back to the 1st Foot , participated in various battles of the Irish rebellion , and eventually fought at the battle of Landen and the 1695 Siege of Namur , both of which were fought during the War of the League of Augsburg . At Namur , however , Hamilton received a serious wound , and was eventually promoted to the rank of brigadier . In 1695 , Hamilton married Elizabeth Villiers sister to Edward Villiers , 1st Earl of Jersey , and the following year , he was raised to the Scottish peerage as Earl of Orkney , Viscount Kirkwall and Baron Dechmont . War of the Spanish Succession . He became a major general and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession under John Churchill , 1st Duke of Marlborough . A few years later in 1704 , Orkney was promoted to lieutenant general . At the Battle of Blenheim , Orkney led the final assault on the village of Blenheim , receiving the surrender of its French defenders . Later , in June 1705 , he marched his column from the Moselle to relieve the besieged city of Liège . At the Battle of Ramillies , he led the pursuit of the defeated French , and he played a major role at the Battle of Oudenarde . In 1708 , he captured two major fortifications at Tournai . At the desperate Battle of Malplaquet , Lord Orkney ' s battalion s led the charge toward the French entrenchments , suffering serious losses . He remained with his army near Flanders , until the end of the war . During that time , he received a promotion to general . After the peace treaties , he received the honorary title of Colonel Commandant of his old unit , the 1st Foot . Later life . For the next few decades , he held civilian and military positions of importance . He was installed as Governor of Edinburgh Castle , made a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I , and was Governor of Virginia in 1714 , but appears never to have visited the colony . He served as a Scottish Representative Peer in six parliaments from 1707 to 1736 , and was the Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire . In 1735 he commissioned the building of a temple at his Buckinghamshire home , Cliveden House , by the architect Giacomo Leoni . He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1736 . This was the first promotion to the rank of Field Marshal in the British Army . Hamilton died a year later in his accommodation on Albemarle Street , London . In 1733 Britain ' s greatest sculptor , and one of the leading sculptors in Europe , Michael Rysbrack , originally from Antwerp , carved a magnificent marble portrait bust of Lord Orkney in the guise of a Roman centurion . One of Rysbrack ' s greatest works , the bust is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum . Its special character owes something to a bond between the sculptor and Lord Orkney , one that had its origins nearly 30 years earlier and was no doubt enhanced in their conversation when Lord Orkney sat to the sculptor for the modelling of the bust . Rysbrack would have been aware of Lord Orkney ’ s heroism during the various campaigns in the Low Countries during the War of the Spanish Succession , not least the battle of Ramillies on 23 May 1706 after which Orkney led the pursuit of the defeated French forces . Following the battle and pursuit , city after city – including Brussels , Bruges and Antwerp - capitulated to Marlborough ' s forces . In Antwerp , Rysbrack ’ s home city , to which Orkney was dispatched by Marlborough with re - enforcements for Major - General Cadogan , the Spanish Governor was in no mood to offer even a token resistance , and constrained the French part of the garrison to join him in surrendering the city on the 6th June . The arrival in Antwerp of Marlborough ’ s victorious forces , led by Orkney ( Marlborough himself arriving on 12 June ) is an event that Rysbrack , then a boy aged 12 , would surely have witnessed . These events must have given sculptor and Lord Orkney a great deal of opportunity for shared reminiscences during the sittings for the bust . Issue . By Elizabeth Villiers , daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and Lady Frances Howard , Lord Orkney had three daughters , the eldest of which inherited his estate and title :