Charles Frederick Hotham

Royal Navy admiral of the fleet

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Frederick Hotham GCB, GCVO (20 March 1843 – 22 March 1925) was a Royal Navy officer.As a junior officer, he was a member of the naval brigade that fought the Māori people at the Battle of Rangiriri during the invasion of the Waikato and was also present at the Battle of Gate Pā during the Tauranga Campaign.

He later took part in the bombardment of Alexandria during the Anglo-Egyptian War and then went ashore as Chief of Staff of the naval brigade, formed under Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour, which was dispatched to restore the authority of Khedive Tewfik Pasha in the face of Ahmed ‘Urabi's nationalist uprising against the administration.

Hotham went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.He sought to intervene in the Chilean Civil War by arranging a peace agreement between the forces of President José Manuel Balmaceda and those of the National Congress of Chile who opposed the President.

Unfortunately Hotham was shot at while going ashore, no agreement was signed and the Civil War rumbled on until a much larger international peace-keeping force arrived to restore order.

Hotham later became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore and then Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

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