Attributed to Samuel Lane, 1780–1859 Portrait of Vice-admiral the Honourable Sir Henry Hotham Kcb, Gcmg, 1777 – 1833

Attributed to Samuel Lane, 1780–1859

Portrait of Vice-Admiral The Honourable Sir Henry Hotham KCB, GCMG, 1777 – 1833

oil on canvas

14 x 14 cm. (5.3/4 x 5.3/4 in.)

Sir Henry Hotham, (1777–1833), naval officer, youngest son of Beaumont Hotham, second Baron Hotham (1737–1814), and his wife, Susanna (1737–1799), second daughter of Sir Thomas Hankey, and widow of James Norman, was born on 19 February 1777, and, after passing through the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth, entered the navy in 1790 on the Princess Royal, then carrying his uncle's flag. He afterwards served in the Lizard in the channel, and the Lapwing in the Mediterranean; in 1793 he was moved into the Victory, Lord Hood's flagship, and in her was present at the occupation of Toulon and the operations in Corsica. After the capture of Bastia in May 1794, he was promoted lieutenant of the Aigle on 6 June, with Captain Samuel Hood.

After the capture of Calvi he was moved again into the Victory, and, when Lord Hood went home, into the Britannia, the flagship of his uncle, who became commander-in-chief, and speedily promoted his nephew to command of the sloop La Flêche, taken at Bastia. On 13 January 1795 Hotham was posted to the frigate Mignonne (32 guns), taken at Calvi and promoted to Captain; but the Mignonne not being fit for service, he was permitted to join the Egmont as a volunteer, and in her was present in the action of 13 July off the Hyères. In September he was appointed to the Dido (28 guns), in which—as afterwards in the Blanche, Hotham was in command of Blanche on 5 February 1797 when she and Inconstant, Captain Thomas Fremantle, captured the ship Fortune of Philadelphia.[6] 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 170 nmi (310 km; 200 mi) 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. —he continued attached to the Mediterranean Fleet until towards the end of 1798, when he was sent home in charge of convoy. Blanche was paid off in August 1798, and Hotham was appointed to the frigate Immortalité in early 1800. He operated in the Bay of Biscay, taking several prizes. Late on the evening of 12 September 1800 he captured a small Spanish vessel laden with stone, but while boarding her observed two French privateer ships, Brave and Bellone coming out of the Gironde. He was obliged to scuttle the Spaniard to make chase. The French attempted to evade him during the night, but Hotham anticipated their movements, and was still following the next day. Unfortunately he lost them the second night, having pursued them for 259 miles. However, on 20 September, he recaptured the English ship Monarch, of 645 tons, laden with timber, which had been taken by Bellone four days earlier. On the 22 September, off Cordouan Lighthouse, he chased a French brig, and by 9.30 p.m., had come within musket-shot, when both vessels unexpectedly grounded near Noirmoutier. The brig was wrecked; but Immortalite refloated herself the next morning, suffering nothing more serious than the loss of an anchor, cable, and boat. On the morning of the next day, the 24th, he spotted the French letter of marque schooner Constance, carrying a cargo of coffee and sugar from Guadaloupe to Bordeaux, but the privateer lugger Cynthia from Guernsey, captured her before he could intervene.

On 26 October 1800 Immortalite, in company with Thames and Beaulieu, 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. Hotham was also present in Immortalite at the capture of the French frigate Dédaigneuse on 27 January 1801. He then, on 14 Ap