Charles Hotham

Charles Hotham KCB, RN
Lithograph by James Henry Lynch, printed by Day & Son, 1859
2nd Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria
In office 22 June 1854 – 22 May 1855
Preceded by	Governor La Trobe
1st Governor of Victoria
In office 22 May 1855 – 10 November 1855
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Succeeded by	Sir Henry Barkly
Personal details
Born	14 November 1806 Dennington, Suffolk, England, UK
Died	31 December 1855(1855-12-31) (aged 49) Melbourne, Victoria
Spouse(s)	Jane Sarah Bridport

Sir Charles Hotham, KCB, RN (14 January 1806 – 31 December 1855) was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, Australia from 22 June 1854 to 10 November 1855.

Hotham was born at Dennington, Suffolk, England the son of the Rev. Frederick Hotham, prebendary of Rochester, and his wife Anne Elizabeth née Hodges. Hotham entered the navy on 6 November 1818, and had a distinguished career. He was in command of the steam sloop Gorgon which ran aground in Montevideo Bay and showed skill and determination in getting her refloated. His last active service was as a commodore on the coast of Africa in 1846, in which year he was created K.C.B. In April 1852 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary on a mission to some of the South American republics.

Hotham was appointed lieutenant-governor of Victoria on 6 December 1853 by the Duke of Newcastle. Later, Hotham was made captain general and governor-in-chief. He was received with great enthusiasm when he landed at Melbourne on 22 June 1854, and there appeared to be every prospect of his being a popular governor. Hotham, however, found that the finances of the colony were in great disorder, there was a prospective deficiency of over £1,000,000, and a bad system had grown up of advances being made to the various departments under the title of "imprests". Hotham wisely appointed a committee of two bankers and the auditor-general to inquire into the position, and this committee promptly advised the abolition of the "imprest" system. It was eventually found that under this system a sum of £280,000 could not be accounted for. His efforts at retrenchment brought Hotham much unpopularity, but on questions of finance he was always sound and great improvements in this regard were made during his short term of office.

Hotham was governor at the time of the . When Hotham became lieutenant-governor, replacing La Trobe, he enforced mining licensing laws. On 19 November 1854 he appointed a Royal Commission on goldfields problems and grievances. According to historian Geoffrey Blainey "It was perhaps the most generous concession offered by a governor to a major opponent in the history of Australia up to that time. The members of the commission were appointed before Eureka...they were men who were likely to be sympathetic to the diggers."