Grissell Hamilton (died circa 1620) was a courtier and textile worker at the royal court of Scotland. She was known as the "Mistress Sewster" or "Sewstar" and worked to embroider and make linen clothes for James VI and Anne of Denmark.
Career Grissell or Grizzell Hamilton was a daughter of Andrew Hamilton of Letham (near Strathaven) and Margaret Hamilton, a sister of Andrew Hamilton of Goslington. She was a cousin of Robert Hamilton, who married Elizabeth Baillie, heiress of Provan Hall.George Hamilton, A History of the House of Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1933), p. 562.
Grissel Gray, a daughter of the king's nurse Helen Littil, was the king's seamstress and "sewstar of oure soverane lordis sarkis".Gareth Russell, Queen James: The Lives and Loves of Britain's First King (London: William Collins, 2025), p. 47: Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 34, 80: Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), pp. 275, 354.Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1568–1579, 20 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 344: Exchequer Rolls, 21 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. 130, 413. Grissel Hamilton was appointed "Mistress Sewster" to James VI on 21 September 1585 by privy seal letter.George Hamilton, A History of the House of Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1933), p. 778. "Sewster" is a Scots language word for seamstress, and a shirt was a "sark" or "serk"."Sewster", Dictionaries of the Scots Language"Sark", Dictionaries of the Scots Language A record of a payment in 1589 gives Hamilton an alternative title "maistres semistar to the kingis grace".Exchequer Rolls, 22 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1903), p. 70.
The King's shirts and bed sheets were made from "fine Holland cloth". Cambric or camerage was used for ruffs and collars, sometime called "necks".Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 13 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1978), p. 73."Nek", Dictionaries of the Scots Language Mary, Queen of Scots, bought similar fabrics for her tailor Jean de Compiègne to make shirts for Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in January 1567.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 12 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1970), pp. 38–39: David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 505.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite (Yale, 2020), p. 43. Shirts were made for her father James V by Katherine Bellenden, and her namesake niece, with the seamstress Janet Douglas.Rosalind K. Marshall, "To be the Kingis Grace ane Dowblett: The Costume of James V, King of Scots", Costume, 28:1 (January 1994), p. 18.
In the 1590, Grissell Hamilton joined the household of Anne of Denmark for a time. The "Mistress Sewster" was listed as a "lady" among the queen's gentlewomen with an allowance of food for herself and her servant in the later 1590s.Michael Pearce, "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 146. : National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 32.4.17: National Records of Scotland, GD16/31/6. However, the role of the Queen's "sewster" may have been taken by Elizabeth Gibb (died 1595) when Grissell Hamilton returned to the King's household. Gibb had made the queen's sarks in July 1590 when she moved from Edinburgh to Dunfermline Palace.Jemma Field, "Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590–1603", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), pp. 157, 161 : Amy Juhala, "The Household and Court of King James VI of Scotland, 1567-1603", University of Edinburgh PhD thesis (2000), pp. 58, 316, 331
Grissel Gray attended the baptism of Prince Henry in August 1594. Henry's first sarks were made by Patrick Murray.Letters of James the Sixth etc. (Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club, 1838), p. lxxi. Barbara Murray was keeper of his clothes, and Elspeth Crummey or Cromby (Abercromby) was in charge of his linen as his "semister".Maria Hayward, Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite (Yale, 2020), p. 64: HMC Mar & Kellie, 1 (London, 1904), p. 42.
Family Grizzell Hamilton married Captain John Hamilton of Barnwell or Barnweill, a son of William Hamilton of Glenmuir.Melanie Schuessler Bond, Dressing the Scottish Court 1543-1553: Clothing in the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland (Boydell, 2019), p. 379: James Campbell, History of the County of Ayr, 1 (Ayr, 1847), p. 345. John Hamilton was a grandson of William Hamilton of Sanquhar who was Provost of Edinburgh. Their children included: Margaret Hamilton, who married John Kincaid of Coitts.George Hamilton, A History of the House of Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1933), p. 778.
References