George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney

Field Marshal George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney,, styled Lord George Hamilton from 1666 to 1696, was a British soldier and Scottish nobleman and the first British Army officer to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. After commanding a regiment for the cause of William of Orange during the Williamite War in Ireland, he commanded a regiment in the Low Countries during the Nine Years' War. He then led the final assault at the Battle of Blenheim attacking the village churchyard with eight battalions of men and then receiving the surrender of its French defenders during the War of the Spanish Succession. He also led the charge of fifteen infantry battalions in an extremely bloody assault on the French entrenchments at the Battle of Malplaquet. In later life, he became a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I and was installed as Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

9 February 1666

Born on the same birth day (9 February): Alejandra Guzmán • Dieter Baumann • Enrico Schiavetti • Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz • Guy Standing (economist) • Harald Eia • Hyrum Smith • J. M. Coetzee • Kelli Berglund • Kurt Asle Arvesen • Sharon Case • Todd Pratt

Born in the same month (February 1666): Marie Thérèse de Bourbon