Henry Hamilton, better known as Uncle Henry, is the older brother of Pittypat Hamilton, and William R. Hamilton and the uncle of Charles Hamilton and Melanie Hamilton.
Biography[]
Henry was born in the late 1790s as the oldest of four siblings. When his brother William R. Hamilton died, his sister Pittypat and he took over the care of his children: Charles and Melanie. Henry and his sister had a falling out when Pittypat invested his money in a non-existent goldmine. He also blamed her for raising their nephew Charles to be sensitive.
He was present at the 1861 wedding of his nephew Charles to Scarlett O'Hara. He tried to comfort Scarlett after Charles' sudden death before the birth of their son Wade. Henry urges Scarlett to raise Wade in Atlanta, where one day he'll inherit all Hamilton property.
Later, when the Army is almost defeated, Henry leaves for the front as part of the Home Guard with grandfather Merriweather, John Wilkes and Philip Meade. When Scarlett sees Uncle Henry again, she asks him if the fighting is serious. Henry says it is. Scarlett asks if the fighting will get to Tara. Ignoring how selfish this question is, Henry says that Tara is safe. But he has some bad news he wants Scarlett to give to Melanie: John Wilkes is dead.
The Hamilton family suffers much for the remainder of the war, and Henry struggles to keep the house (now that the Hamilton warehouses have burned down) for his great-nephew Wade's sake, at his own expense. As time goes on, Henry's feelings towards Scarlett bitter as she remarries twice, quickly after Charles' death and neglects her son Wade, his heir. However, he defends Melanie's decision to stay friends with her, recongising that Scarlett was still family as Charles' widow, and that she once saved Melanie and Beau.
When Scarlett and her third husband, the onpopular Rhett Butler start entertaining at their lavish house, the only loyal friends to come visit are Ashley, Melanie, Pittypat and Uncle Henry.
Personality[]
Uncle Henry is a responsible man of principle. Family is everything to him, as is evident by his actions. He keeps supporting Pittypat financially, and he visits Scarlett when nobody else does, even though he doesn't agree with their choices. He thinks he failed at raising Charles to be a proper man, believing in traditional gender roles, and is therefore adament that Wade is raised "correctly".