(second son of the second Lord Hotham, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer), by Anne Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thos. Hallett Hodges, Esq., of Hemsted Place, Kent; and first cousin of Capt. Hon. Geo. Fred. Hotham, R.N. Sir Charles, who is brother-in-law of Lieut.-Colonel Grieve of the 75th Regt., has also a brother, Augustus Thomas Hotham, in the Army.
This officer entered the Navy 6 Nov. 1818; and on the night of 23 May, 1824, when Midshipman of the Naiad 46, Capt. Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer, served in the boats under Lieut. Michael Quin at the gallant destruction of a 16-gun brig, moored in a position of extraordinary strength alongside the walls of the fortress of Bona, in which was a garrison of about 400 soldiers, who, from cannon and musket, kept up a tremendous fire, almost perpendicularly, on the deck. He was made Lieutenant, 17 Sept. 1825, into the Revenge 76, flag-ship of Sir Harry Burrard Neale in the Mediterranean; and next appointed – 15 May, 1826, to the Medina 20, Capts. Timothy Curtis and Wm. Burnaby Greene, on the same station – and, 8 Dec. 1827, and 26 July, 1828, as First, to the Terror and Meteor bombs, Capts. Wm. Fletcher and David Hope. As a reward for his distinguished exertions on the occasion of the wreck of the Terror, more particularly alluded to in our memoir of Capt. Hope, Mr. Hotham was promoted by the Lord High Admiral to the rank of Commander 13 Aug. 1828. After an interval of half-pay he obtained an appointment, 17 March, 1830, to the Cordelia 10, and returned to the Mediterranean, whence he ultimately came home and was paid off in Oct. 1833 – having been raised to Post-rank on 28 of the preceding June in compliment to the memory of his uncle the late Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Henry Hotham, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. His next appointment was, 25 Nov. 1842, to the Gorgon steam-sloop, stationed on the S.E. coast of America. In Nov. 1845, having assumed command of a small squadron, he ascended the river Parana, in conjunction with a French naval force under Capt. Trehouart, and on 20 of that month, after a hard day’s fighting, succeeded in effecting the destruction of four heavy batteries belonging to General Rosas at Punta Obligado, also of a schooner-of war carrying 6 guns, and of 24 vessels chained across the river. Towards the close of the action he landed with 180 seamen and 145 marines, and accomplished the defeat of the enemy, whose numbers had originally consisted of at least 3500 men, in cavalry, infantry, and artillery, and whose batteries had mounted 22 pieces of ordnance, including 10 brass guns, which latter were taken off to the ships, the remainder being all destroyed. The loss of the British in this very brilliant affair amounted to 9 men killed and 24 wounded. In acknowledgment of the gallantry, zeal, and ability displayed throughout its various details by Capt. Hotham, he was recommended in the most fervent terms of admiration by his Commander-in-Chief, Rear-Admiral Sam. Hood Inglefield, in his despatches to the Admiralty, and he was in consequence nominated a K.C.B. 9 March, 1846. Since 13 May in that year he has been employed as Commodore on the coast of Africa, with his broad pendant successively flying in the Devastation and Penelope steamers.
While Sir Chas. Hotham was in the Gorgon, that vessel was blown far on shore in a hurricane at Colonia, and it was only by the most indomitable and procrastinated exertion on the part of himself and his crew that she was saved. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
HOTHAM. (Captain, 1828. f-p., 12; h-p., 25.)
The Honourable George Frederick Hotham, born 20 Oct. 1799, is son of the late Hon. Beaumont Hotham (eldest son of the second Lord Hotham, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer), by Philadelphia, daughter of Sir John Dixon Dyke, Bart. Capt. Hotham, who is only brother of the present Lord Hotham, is nephew of Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Henry Hotham, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. (who died Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean in 1833, aged 56), and of Admiral Sir John Sutton, K.C.B.; and cousin both of the present Admiral Sir Wm. Hotham, G.C.B., and of Capt. Sir Chas. Hotham, K.C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 16 Sept. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Northumberland 74, commanded by his uncle Capt. Hon. Henry Hotham. On 22 May, 1812, when in company with the Growler gun-brig, we find him contributing to the gallant destruction, at the entrance of L’Orient, of the French 40-gun frigates L’Arienne and L’Andromaque, and 16 gun-brig Mameluck, whose united fire, conjointly with that of a destructive battery, killed 5 of the Northumberland’s people, and wounded 28. Becoming Midshipman, in Jan. 1813, of the Ramillies 74, Capts. Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy and Chas. Ogle, he sailed for the coast of North America, where he continued until the termination of hostilities, and, independently of the blockade of New London, participated in the operations against Moose Island, Baltimore, and New Orleans. After a brief re-employment under the orders of his uncle in the Superb 74, stationed off the coast of France for the interception of Napoleon Buonaparte, Mr. Hotham, in Oct. 1815, joined the Pactolus 38, Capts. Hon. Fred. Wm. Aylmer and Wm. Hugh Dobbie, the latter of whom he accompanied into the Severn 40. On next joining the Minden 74, Capt. Wm. Paterson, he assisted in that ship at the bombardment of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816, and then sailed for the East Indies, on which station he served until after his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 7 Dec. 1819. On 22 Oct. 1821, he obtained an appointment to the Euryalus 42, Capt. Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford, fitting for the Mediterranean, whence he returned to England on his advancement to the rank of Commander 25 March, 1822. On 16 May, 1828, Capt. Hotham had the misfortune, when off the coast of Egypt, to lose the Parthian 10, a sloop of which he had been awarded the command 28 April,- 1827. He attained the rank he now holds 7 June, 1828, and has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Hotham married, 12 Aug. 1824, Lady Susan Maria O’Bryen, eldest daughter of William, second Marquess of Thomond, by whom he has issue.
HOTHAM. (Lieutenant, 1832.)
John William Hotham, born in 1809, is. third son of Admiral Sir Wm. Hotham, G.C.B., by his first marriage.
This officer passed his examination in 1830, and was made Lieutenant, 13 March, 1832, into the Alfred 50, Capt. Robt. Maunsell, on the Mediterranean station. He was paid off on his return to England 28 July, 1834, and has since been unemployed.
Lieut. Hotham married, 29 April, 1838, Sarah Eliza, eldest daughter of Wm. Hawkesley, Esq., of the Circus, Bath.
HOTHAM, G.C.B. (Admiral, of the Red, 1837. f-p., 22; h-p., 46.)
Sir William Hotham, born in Feb. 1772, is second son of Geo. Hotham, a General in the Army, and Colonel of the 14th Regt. of Foot, by Diana, youngest daughter of Sir Warton Pennyman, Bart.; brother-in-law of the late Lord Edw. O’Bryen, Capt. R.N.; and nephew of the first Lord Hotham, who commanded the Edgar 74, at the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, fought the well-known actions of 14 March and 13 July, 1795, with the French fleet, was raised for his services to the peerage, and died 2 May, 1813.
This officer (whose name had been borne on the books of different ships since 21 Dec. 1779) went to sea from Westminster School, in the autumn of 1785, on board the Grampus 50, Capt. Edw. Thompson. On his return home from the African station in the following spring, he entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth, but he re-embarked in
