He was born in India but came to London and attended the Slade School of Art. He was a member of the Fitroy Street Group and a founding member of the London Group. He became a Vorticist in 1914 and was a signatory to the manifesto in Blast, contributing a picture, Group. He also experimented with sculpture and founded the Yeoman Pottery in Kensington, bringing in William Staite-Murray, a recent graduate of the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. The pottery functioned from 1915 to 1919. Staite-Murray, who was born in Rhodesia, went on to become an important potter. Hamilton was also a member of the short-lived Group X, which exhibited in 1920.