Henry Hotham

Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Hotham (19 February 1777 – 19 April 1833) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812. He was later a member of the Board of Admiralty, and ended his career as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Biography

French Revolutionary Wars Henry Hotham was the youngest surviving son of Beaumont Hotham (2nd Baron Hotham from 1813) and Susanna, daughter of Sir Thomas Hankey. He joined the Navy in 1790 (aged 13) serving aboard , the flagship of his uncle Rear-Admiral William Hotham. He went on to serve aboard , , and , and finally once again with his uncle, now a Vice-Admiral, aboard in the Mediterranean. He was subsequently commissioned as a lieutenant on 6 June 1794 (aged just 17) and was given command of the prize sloop in November 1794. On 20 November 1797 he captured the French privateer brig Le Coureur, of 14 guns and 90 men, after a three-hour chase. On 27 December 1797, about west of Porto, he captured the Bayonnois, a French privateer brig of six guns and 40 men, after a 16-hour chase. The brig had sailed from Bayonne 31 days previously and had made no captures.

Blanche was paid off in August 1798, and Hotham was appointed to the frigate in early 1800. On 26 October 1800 Immortalite, in company with and , captured the French privateer Diable à Quatre, of 16 guns and 150 men, and on the 29th a letter of marque schooner, sailing from Guadaloupe to Bourdeaux, with a cargo of coffee. He then, on 14 April 1801, captured the French privateer brig Laure, of 14 guns and 78 men. She was 15 days out of St. Malo, and had captured a Portuguese vessel sailing Bristol to Lisbon, and had made 17 other captures in previous cruises. On 27 July, assisted by the presence of the frigate , he captured the Invention, an unusual privateer designed and commanded by M. Thibaut. She was long, but only wide, with four masts, and carried 24 guns on a flush deck, and a crew of 210. She had sailed from Bordeaux nine days before on her first cruise. Towards the close of the war in 1802, the Immortalite was blockading the port of Brest. and on 4 November 1805 he assisted at the capture of four French ships by Sir Richard Strachan in the Battle of Cape Ortegal. On 1 June 1810 he captured the French chasse-marées Syrene, Eugene, and St. Yves.

Hotham then took command of the ship . On 22 November 1810, he captured the French privateer ketch Glaneuse, of 14 guns and 85 men, after a two-day pursuit, after preventing her from capturing a British packet ship. In 1812 Hotham was serving under Rear-Admiral Sir Harry Neale off Ushant, and was sent by him to cruise off l'Orient, to intercept three expected French vessels. In the ensuing action on 22 May Northumberland, assisted by the gun-brig Growler, encountered the French frigates and , both of 44 guns and 450 men, and the brig Mameluke, of 18 guns and 150 men, near the island of Groix. Hotham skilfully manoeuvred his ship so as to force the enemy to ground themselves. Northumberland then opened a steady fire at point-blank range until the ships were abandoned and burning. and nominated a Colonel of Marines. This does not include the frigate USS President, captured by four ships of his squadron on 15 January 1815.

Hotham was made a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815, having his investiture on 12 April.

The Hundred Days On the renewal of the war in Europe, following Napoleon's return from Elba in March 1815, Hotham commanded a division of the Channel Fleet,

Post-war career On 25 March 1818 Hotham was appointed a member of the Board of Admiralty, his position being renewed in March 1819 and February 1822, serving until March 1822. and returned to serve on the Board of Admiralty in September 1828, renewed in June 1829 and July 1830, until November 1830. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean on 30 March 1831, and on 4 July 1831 was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.

Hotham died suddenly of an intracranial hemorrhage in Valletta, Malta, on 19 April 1833, and was buried at Msida Bastion Cemetery in Floriana on 24 April. Reverend Henry John Hotham (1822–1885), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge Reverend Frederick Harry Hotham (1824–1887), Rector of Rushbury, Shrewsbury Captain Beaumont Williams Hotham (1825–1915), HM Consul at Calais 1859–1882