| George Hamilton |
 George Hamilton was born on Friday, 7th December, 1917, in Irvine, North Ayrshire. The 5' 10 forward appeared as a guest for Donald Turner's Thistle in November, 1942, having most recently been with Aberdeen. Aged 24, he made his only appearance on Saturday, 14th November, 1942, in a 4-1 defeat away to Rangers in the Southern League. There were no goals for George in his one-off appearance for Thistle. His club-list included Irvine Meadow XI, Queen of the South, Aberdeen, Ayr United, Halifax Town, Heart of Midlothian, Rangers, Partick Thistle and Hamilton Academical. George died in May, 2001, in Aberdeen, aged 83. *
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 George Hamilton started his senior career with Queen of the South before enjoying a long and successful career at Aberdeen. In his five full internationals for Scotland he scored four goals. He travelled to the World Cup finals in 1954, although he didn't feature. Born in Irvine in December 1917, George started out with local junior side Irvine Meadow before, aged 19, joining top-flight Queen of the South. The inside forward was comfortable with the ball on either foot and had an obvious love of playing the game. In Hamilton’s single season in Dumfries he scored nine goals in 31 league games. Hamilton’s last two games at QoS have gone down as one of the most dramatic league finishes in the club’s history - a 3-2 win at Ibrox dramatically spared the Doonhamers from relegation. Aberdeen, managed by ex QoS Dave Halliday, purchased George Hamilton for £3000 in April 1938. Halliday would never spend any smarter money than he did on George Hamilton – 102 goals in 203 Aberdeen league games give testament to Hamilton’s goal scoring potency. As with many of his peers, the Second World War hugely interrupted George’s career. League football in Scotland went into abeyance in 1939 and George returned to his native Ayrshire. Temporary Regional Leagues were then established. Travel restrictions meant players would guest for local clubs, meaning George turned out for Ayr United, Rangers, Partick Thistle and others between 1940 and 1945. George returned to Aberdeen when global hostilities ended and enjoyed his most successful period. His consistent good form in 1945-46 earned selection for two games against England that have not been awarded cap status. Both in April ’46, the first was one of the ’Victory Internationals’ arranged following the end of World War 2. Scotland won 1-0 thanks to a Jimmy Delaney goal before an astonishing Hampden crowd of 139,468. The second was the benefit game after the Burnden Park disaster in Bolton. Willie Thornton and Don Welsh both scored a double in the 2-2 draw at Maine Road. This was watched by another big crowd - 70,000. Hamilton’s Scotland national team official debut was in the 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland on 27 Nov 1946. After lifting the transitional 1945-46 League Cup by beating Rangers 3-2 in the final, George then scored in winning the Scottish Cup Final 2-1 against Hibs the following season. Aberdeen returned to the League Cup final in 1946-47 with George scoring a hat trick in the 6-2 semi final drubbing against Hearts, despite being at supposedly neutral Easter Road. In the same season, George became the first Aberdeen player to score three or more goals against Celtic when, on 2nd January, he scored four in a stunning 5-1 win at Celtic Park. Despite Hamilton’s form, when Hearts offered £8000 plus the younger Archie Kelly for his services in December 1947, the Reds considered it good value for a 30 year old and accepted. George’s first Hearts goal was in the 1-1 draw away to Partick Thistle on 31st Jan 1948. This was the start of a 10 game unbeaten league run lasting to the season’s end. The last game of the league season was George’s last for the Jambos, George scoring a 75th minute winner in a 2-1 win at Ibrox. Rangers finished the season two points behind champions Hibs. After only half a season and 15 competitive games for Hearts (scoring six goals in 13 league appearances and one goal in the Scottish Cup) plus two friendlies, an unsettled George returned to Halliday’s Aberdeen for £12,000. There, he earned an international recall in 1951 when he scored a hat-trick in trouncing Belgium 5-0 away. There have only been 4 hat-tricks on the international stage involving Jagsmen and George was the last to do so. He was following on from Willie Paul (1890), John Barker (1893) and Sandy McMahon (1901). A week later it was a different story as the (then) powerful Austrian side handed out a trouncing of their own – a 4-0 away defeat for the Scots. George’s fine form helped Aberdeen to two further (losing) Scottish Cup Final appearances, in 1953 and 1954. In 1954, when aged 36, he was recalled for Scotland again ahead of the World Cup finals in Switzerland. He played in two build up games against Norway scoring the only goal of the game played in Scotland. The return game in Scandinavia was 1-1. Hamilton was then selected in the 22-man squad for the finals. Although he didn't initially make the final 13 cut, Bobby Johnstone's withdrawal through injury ensured a place for George, although he didn't play in any of the 3 games. The years then started to take effect as he largely looked on from the sidelines as a young Dons side won the 1954-55 League title with the long serving Halliday still at the helm. George was then transferred to namesake Hamilton Academical in 1955. George retired a matter of months after joining Accies, just after his 38th birthday having scored twice in 11 league games for the club. After hanging up his boots George joined the Aberdeen coaching staff. George is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists → |
| (QOS/WS) |
5 caps, 4 goals
retired