A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hotham, William (b)
HOTHAM, K.H. (Captain, 1825. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
William Hotham, born in 1794, is eldest son of Lieut.-Colonel Geo. Hotham (elder brother of Admiral Sir Wm. Hotham, G.C.B.), by his first wife, Caroline, daughter of Robt. Gee, Esq., of Bishop Burton; and brother-in-law of Sir John Wm. Lubbock, Bart., the eminent banker. One of Capt. Hotham’s brothers, George, is a Captain in the Royal Engineers; a second, Charles, Prebendary of York; and a third, John, an officer in the East India Company’s Artillery.
This officer entered the Navy, in June, 1803, on board the Raisonnable 64, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Wm. Hotham, in the North Sea. With the exception of a few weeks towards the close of 1811, during which he served as Acting-Lieutenant of the Unité 36,[1] Capt. Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, he appears to have been continuously, from, 1804 until 1814, employed under the orders of Capt. Chas. Rowley, as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and Lieutenant (commission dated 12 Feb. 1812), on board the Ruby 64, and Eagle 74. While in the latter ship he assisted at the defence of Gaeta, and the storming of Capri in 1806; attended the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren; was employed at the siege of Cadiz in 1810; and participated, in 1813, in the operations against Fiumé, Rovigno, and Trieste, during the siege of the citadel at which latter place he served on shore, and manifested an admirable degree of courage and activity.[2] He also, on 8 June, 1813, had partial command of the boats at the destruction, close to Omago, of a 2-gun battery, and the capture of four scuttled vessels loaded with wine; and on 7 of the following month accompanied a party that stormed, carried, and levelled the fortress of Farasina, mounting 5 long 18-pounders.[3] From Aug. 1813 until Jan. 1814 Lieut. Hotham commanded a flotilla employed, in the River Po, in co-operation with the Austrian army; and honourable mention is made of him in several official letters from Capt. Rowley to Admiral Fremantle, as well as in a despatch from Count Nugent to Earl Bathurst, then H.M. Secretary of State for the War Department. The Eagle formed part of the squadron which accompanied Louis XVIII. to France in April, 1814; and was paid off at Chatham in the course of the following month. A few days after his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 15 June, 1814, we find Capt. Hotham appointed to the Fervent sloop. After witnessing the grand naval review held before the Allied Sovereigns at Spithead, he proceeded to Bermuda and the West Indies. In June, 1815, the Fervent was put out of commission; and on 27 April, 1824, Capt. Hotham obtained command of the Sappho 18, fitting for the Halifax station, whence he returned on his advancement to Post-rank 4 April, 1825. He accepted the half-pay of Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Hotham was nominated a K.H. 25 Jan. 1836.
- ↑ While in this ship, Mr. Hotham was creditably noticed for his cool and steady conduct at the capture, after a severe running fight of four hours, of the 26-gun store-ship, Persanne who, until the moment of her surrender, had been taken for a frigate. – Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 567.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 2478.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1803, p. 2010.