Captain Charles Hotham

A carte-de-visite portrait of Captain Charles Hotham (1836-1872) of the 59th (The 2nd Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1870 he succeeded his uncle and became Lord Hotham, 4th Baron Hotham.

The sitter is identified as 'Captain Charles Holtram' in the Silvy daybooks, although no officer with this name appears in Hart's Army List. However, another collector I know has a slightly different portrait from this same sitting, and the man in his portrait is identified as ‘Captain C. Hotham.' Furthermore, it is clear from the man's cap badge that his regiment is the 59th (The 2nd Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot. Hart’s Army List of 1862 lists Charles Hotham as a Captain in the 59th Foot (seniority 13 December 1861). According to the same source, ‘Captain Hotham served with the 18th Royal Irish in the Crimea from Dec. 1854, and was wounded at the assault of the outworks of Sebastopol on 18th June 1855 (Medal and Clasp, 5th Class of the Medjidie, and Turkish Medal).'

He died on 29 May 1872 at 15 Brunswick Square, Brighton. He left an estate valued at £25,000.

According to a short obituary in the Leamington Spa Courier (8 June 1872): 'Charles Hotham, 4th Baron Hotham, in the peerage of Ireland, and a Baronet, son of Rear Admiral the Hon. George Frederick Hotham, by Lady Susan Maria O'Bryen, eldest daughter of the 2nd Marquis of Thomond, expired on the 29th ult. Debrett's Peerage states he was born May 27th, 1836, and succeeded his uncle 1870. He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; entered the 18th Foot 1854, and became Capt. 1861; served in the Crimea, and was wounded before Sebastopol 1855; exchanged to the 59th Foot 1862, and retired 1863; received the Crimean medal and clasp, the Turkish war medal, and the Order of the Medjidie. The late Lord was unmarried, and will be succeeded in the title by his brother John, who was born 1838, and is an officer in the Royal Navy.'

[From an album compiled by Margaret Randalina Barnewall, Lady Trimleston.]

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 17 June 1862.