The sitter was nephew of Admiral Lord Hotham. He was a lieutenant from 1794, serving under Lord Hood (in 'Victory') in the Mediterranean and with Nelson at the siege of Bastia. He became a captain later that year, and under Duncan in 1797 commanded the 'Adamant' which was the only ship other than Duncan's own that did not mutiny when the Spithead and Nore disturbances spread to his squadron. At Camperdown he captured the 'Haarlem', 68 guns. In 1803-04 he was flag-captain in the 'Raisonnable' off the coasts of Holland and France and commanded the 'Royal Sovereign' yacht, 1810-13, when he retired on reaching flag rank. He received the KCB in 1815, which was converted to GCB in 1840 on reconstitution of the order. This full-length portrait shows him seated in civilian dress in his library, wearing the star of the GCB and the Camperdown medal. It is apparently a copy of one by Hayter that he left to his son. The copy was given by him to his god-daughter Jane Eliza, elder daughter of Andrew Stevens who was his servant and had been in the Navy with him. It later passed to the Misses Gardner, children of his younger daughter, who (according to the 1961 'Preliminary Catalogue') presented it to the Museum in 1960. [PvdM 7/11]