Three years after her brother, Major
Robert Poore, married Flora Douglas-Hamilton, on 4 December 1901 Nina married Flora's brother
Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton, at the parish church of
Newton Tony, Wiltshire, not far from her parents' home at
Winterslow. Together, they were the parents of four sons and three daughters: •
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton •
Lady Jean Douglas-Hamilton •
George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk •
Lady Margaret Douglas-Hamilton •
Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton •
Lord David Douglas-Hamilton •
Lady Mairi Nina Douglas-Hamilton Douglas-Hamilton was very proud of her father's work in helping agricultural labourers at Winterslow and was philanthropic towards the group, but kept her gifts secret from all but the recipients. Another gift was sufficient to completely equip and furnish a home for nurses at
Bo'ness, West Lothian.
Animal welfare Duchess of Hamilton was a co-founder in 1906 of the
Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, with
Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a society which set up three veterinary hospitals for horses during
World War I, and campaigned against cruelty to animals including the use of animals in war. She also established
Ferne Animal Sanctuary, at
Ferne House in Dorset, the estate she and her husband owned. She compiled an illustrated book related to the sanctuary called
Chronicles of Ferne, published in 1951. Douglas-Hamilton was an advocate of humane slaughter. She campaigned for "human killers" and opposed the use of the knife and
poleaxe in the slaughterhouse. Douglas-Hamilton was chief promoter of the Animal Defence Society's "Model Humane Abattoir", established in
Letchworth in 1928. The humane abattoir received many donations. On creation of the humane abattoir, Douglas-Hamilton commented that "in a civilized country, a slaughterhouse need not be a place of horror, into which animals are driven by kicks and tail-twistings. We ask for mercy to animals, for decency, for cleanliness, and, above all a swift and painless death". Douglas-Hamilton was a vegetarian in her personal life but in 1928 became the head of a humane butcher's shop. In 1931, she stated that "we should ask for the first step to needful reform. This is the use in every slaughterhouse of the mechanically operated humane killer, through which death is made swift and painless". In June 1950, she attended an international animal welfare conference at Genova. She was a member of the
Council of Justice to Animals (Humane Slaughter Association). ==Death==