Edward Neil Hamilton
1936 – 2023
It is with great sadness that we announce the death, on 28th June 2023, of Edward Neil Hamilton, a Consultant Solicitor at the Firm.
Mr Hamilton trained in law for five years before qualifying in 1959. He was articled with his father’s firm, but he said that his father decided he should work outside Grantham just in case he was “going to make a fool of myself!”. Neil worked in Cambridge before moving back to the Town at the end of 1961.
Neil became a partner at Norton and Hamilton in St Peter’s Hill and became a specialist in all forms of civil litigation, including family law, employment, wills and probate, as well as company law. When he reached 65, Neil merged his company with Bird & Co.
He said at the time: “I still enjoy it and will keep going while I am still wanted.” Mr Hamilton was married to Sue and they have three grown up children and eight grandchildren.
Outside work, Mr Hamilton’s interests included cricket, playing bridge and growing vegetables.
Neil was as an old school gentleman with a good sense of humour, highly knowledgeable, well read, had an amazing memory and loved cricket.
In his younger days he played cricket for Grantham and was later Chairman of Lincolnshire County Cricket Club from 1988 to 2008. He was then made an Honorary Life Member.
Sarah Foss, Office Manager, worked with Neil for 40 years. Her thoughts on Neil are reproduced below:
“I have wished for some time that I had had the foresight over the past 40 years to make a note of all the put me downs in letters to Neil’s opponents. One of my favourites was when they asked him for a response by return he would write back days later and say ‘Your request for a response by return implies that I have nothing else to do than wait for you to write to me”.
“He also knew the Civil Procedure Rules more than anyone else and took great pleasure in being able to recite the paragraph and clauses to his opponents, put the younger qualified Solicitors in their places, and dropping the fact that he had been in practice for over 50 then 60 years!”
Our beloved Mr Hamilton will be sorely missed at the Firm and by his family and friends. Our thoughts are with his wife Sue and the rest of the family.