- John Hotham the younger
John Hotham the younger (
1610 -2 January 1645 ) was the eldest son ofJohn Hotham and an EnglishMember of Parliament during thecivil war .The eldest son of Sir John Hotham and his first wife, the younger Hotham was generally styled Captain Hotham. He served under Sir
Horace Vere in the army of thePrince of Orange during 1629-1631 and was elected MP for Scarborough in the Short andLong Parliament s. When Parliament re-appointed his father governor of Hull in January 1642, Hotham went ahead and secured the town with the support of the radical MPPeregrine Pelham and theYorkshire Trained Bands . In October 1642, Captain Hotham led a force of around 500 horse and foot to captureCawood Castle nearYork in defiance of a treaty of neutrality betweenLord Fairfax and theYorkshire Royalists which the Hothams repudiated. He joined Fairfax to drive the Royalists out ofLeeds but was unable to prevent theEarl of Newcastle from crossing theRiver Tees atPierce Bridge and securing York in December 1642.Hotham resented Fairfax's authority and considered himself to be a more suitable commander for the Yorkshire Parliamentarians. With his father's support, Hotham entered secret negotiations with Newcastle, indicating that they might be willing to surrender Hull and come over to the King's side. Hotham spun out the negotiations for several months, intending to secure the best terms. In April 1643, he joined forces with the Parliamentarians in
Lincolnshire . The unruly behaviour of his troops and his alleged attempts to subvert Parliamentarian officers aroused the suspicions of Colonels Cromwell and Hutchinson at a rendezvous atNottingham in June 1643. They reported to theCommittee of Safety , and Hotham's arrest was ordered. He escaped from Nottingham and fled to Lincoln, but was arrested again when he went to confer with his father at Hull. Both Hothams were sent toLondon and tried bycourt martial in December 1644. Despite trying to lay all blame on his father, Captain Hotham was executed on2 January 1645 ; his father was executed the following day.References
This article incorporates text under a
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