Brigadier-General Charles Hotham (25 April 1693 – 15 January 1738), of South Dalton, Yorkshire, was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between 1723 and 1738. He was entrusted by King George II with the task of negotiating a double marriage between the

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

and

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

dynasties.

Early life

Hotham was the eldest son of

Sir Charles Hotham, 4th Baronet Sir Charles Hotham, 4th Baronet ( 1663 – 8 January 1723), of Scorborough and later of Beverley and South Dalton, was a British Army officer and Whig politician who sat in the English House of Commons and British House of Commons from 1695 to 172 ...

of Scorborough, near Beverley, Yorkshire, MP, and his wife Bridget Gee, daughter of William Gee of Bishop's Burton, Yorkshire. He joined the British Army in 1706, and as a young man, visited

, where he became a friend of the electoral prince, afterwards George II. He was a captain in his father's regiment in 1715 and in 1720, became lieutenant-colonel in the

7th Dragoon Guards The 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1688 as Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 8th Horse in 1694 and the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards for ...

. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on the death of his father in 1723. In April 1724, he married Lady Gertrude Stanhope, the daughter of

Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield (3 February 1673 – 27 January 1726) was an English peer. He was the eldest son of Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, by his third wife, Lady Elizabeth Stanhope. In 1692, Stanhope married Lad ...

Career

Hotham was elected Member of Parliament for the family seat at

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

in a contest at a by-election on 31 January 1723. He voted with the Administration in every recorded division. On the accession of George II in 1727, he was appointed a

Groom of the Bedchamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Royal Household, Household of the monarch in early modern Kingdom of England, England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In King ...

, a position he held until his death. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

he was defeated at the poll, but was returned as MP for Beverley on petition on 8 March 1729. The king sent him in 1730 on a confidential mission to arrange a double marriage between the heirs apparent and the Princesses Royal of England and Prussia. He was rewarded by being made Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Ireland (1732–35) and afterwards Colonel of the 1st Troop,

Horse Grenadier Guards The Horse Grenadier Guards, usually referred to as Horse Grenadiers, were a series of cavalry troops in the British Household Cavalry between 1687 and 1788, who used grenades and other explosives in battle. Originally attached to the Troops of ...

. He was elected MP for Beverley again in a contest at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scot ...

.HOTHAM, Sir Charles, 5th Bt. (1693-1738), of Scorborough, Yorks.
at

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

Online]

The double marriage

Queen Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Sophia Dorothea of Prussia, sister of George II of Great Britain, had long cherished the prospect of marrying her daughter, Wilhelmina, to the Prince of Wales, and her son, the Crown Prince Frederick, to the British Princess Emily. Her husband, King Frederick William I of Prussia, saw the advantage of the union, but was torn between his desire to draw closer to Protestant England and his position as a subject of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Charles VI. His mutual dislike for his English brother-in-law and first cousin did not help matters. The Austrians had for years heavily funded the efforts of General von Seckendorff to buy off Frederick William's closest associates and so influence the King towards a pro-Austrian and anti-British policy. Colonel Hotham, who had been appointed a

in 1727 on the accession of George II, was empowered by the king with the authority to arrange for a double marriage between the two houses. He arrived in Prussia on 2 April 1730, armed with incriminating letters of Seckendorff's tactics. The marriage talks, after some initial stumbling, held promise, especially as Hotham had made a good impression on the entire Hohenzollern family. Frederick William approved wholly of the marriage of Wilhelmina to the Prince of Wales, and, while stating that the crown prince Frederick, at 18, was too young to marry, did let it be known that, within ten years, a marriage to a suitable English princess was acceptable. Unfortunately, George II, while willing to consider such an alliance, stated that he would only allow "both marriages or neither" which meant that the Anglo-Prussian alliance could not happen until Frederick was allowed to wed as well. Then, on 12 July, Hotham, in an attempt to strengthen his position by discrediting the Austrian contingent at court, produced letters incriminating Seckendorff and several of the King's associates. Frederick William flew into a rage at the tactic, threw the letter to the floor, and stalked out of the room. Hotham took his treatment as an insult to the majesty of England, and immediately arranged for transport to take him back to England. The Crown Prince had long contemplated fleeing Prussia to avoid the continual physical and emotional abuse of his father, but had held off on his plans so long as the double marriage prospect was viable.Aspray, 61-62. With the collapse of the negotiations, he contrived, with his close friend Hans von Katte, to flee to Paris. The plan was discovered and both were arrested and gaoled. Katte was executed and Frederick was forced by his father to watch the execution from his cell window, an event which stood as a psychological milestone in the life of the future Frederick the Great.

Death and legacy

Hotham died, aged 45, on 15 January 1738, leaving one surviving son and three daughters. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Sir Charles Hotham, 6th Baronet.

References

External links

Papers of the Hotham Family of Scorborough and South Dalton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotham, Charles 1693 births 1738 deaths People from Dalton Holme Grenadier Guards officers Military personnel from the East Riding of Yorkshire Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers British diplomats Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British Army brigadiers British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 Baronets in the Baronetage of England

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...