Charles Sotheby

Charles Sotheby (died 1854) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of rear admiral. Sotheby was present as a midshipman at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, serving aboard the 74-gun , and took part in the Siege of Malta and subsequent operations in Egypt in 1801. Sotheby was made acting lieutenant on the 36-gun frigate in October 1801, an appointment that was confirmed in January the following year. He served in that capacity in the English Channel and North Sea. In April 1807, he joined for service in the Anglo-Turkish War.

Sotheby received his first command in March 1809 when he was appointed to the 18-gun , in which he joined the Walcheren Campaign in July. He commissioned in July 1810 for service, en flûte, on the Lisbon station and in the Mediterranean. On 1 October 1814, he transferred to and commanded her in the Americas and later on the Cape of Good Hope Station. He returned to the Mediterranean in May 1824, in command of the 32-gun frigate , where he fought a three-year campaign against piracy. Sotheby attained flag rank on 20 March 1848 and rose steadily through the ranks until his death on 26 January 1854.

Career Orient explodes at the Battle of the Nile. Sotheby, aboard Alexander, was one of the closest British seaman to the blast Sotheby entered the Royal Naval Academy on 5 September 1795. On 31 March 1798, he enrolled as a first-class volunteer on the 74-gun , under Captain Alexander Ball and was serving aboard as a midshipman when she took part in the Battle of the Nile in 1798. compelling her to surrender. The other smaller vessels made out to sea but Généreux was unable to follow without coming into conflict with Alexander. She instead bore up at 13:30, and held her position in order to protect her fleeing compatriots. She was engaged by a British frigate and when two other ships came within range at 16:30, she struck. Two more were encountered and destroyed by Sotheby's ship, on 5 September 1826.

Sotheby attained flag rank on 20 March 1848, when he was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the Blue. He rose through the ranks, becoming Rear-admiral of the White on 6 November 1850 and Rear-admiral of the Red, 2 April 1853, until his death on 26 January 1854.

Family Charles Sotheby was one of ten children, seven of them sons, born to William Sotheby and his wife Mary (née Isted). His older brother, William, a lieutenant-colonel in the foot-guards, died in 1815 leaving Charles the eldest child. Two years later, his younger brother, while serving in the East India Company, was killed on 27 November 1817, defending the residency at Nagpoore during the Third Anglo-Maratha War. William's third son, Hans, was also in the service of the company until his death in 1827. Charles' youngest brother, Frederick, was a colonel in the Bengal artillery and died in 1870.

Sotheby married twice. On 15 February 1819, he wed Lady Jane Hamilton, the third daughter of William Hamilton, the seventh Lord Belhaven and Stenton. She died 18 September 1820. On 18 November 1830, he remarried to Mary Anne, the daughter of Admiral Thomas Sotheby (1759–1831) and his second wife, Lady Mary Anne.