He was born in 1589 the second but only surviving son of John Hotham of Scorborough, who in 1584 had been elected a Member of Parliament for Scarborough in Yorkshire. His mother has been variously given as Julian Stanhope, a daughter of Sir Michael Stanhope of Shelford, Nottinghamshire or as Jane Legard, a daughter of Richard Legard of Rysome, Yorkshire.
Career
He fought on the continent of Europe during the early part of the Thirty Years' War. In 1622 he was made a baronet. He was elected a Member of Parliament for Beverley in the five Parliaments between 1625 and 1640, and served as Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1634. In 1639 he was deprived by the king of his office of Governor of Hull, and joining the parliamentary party, he refused to pay ship-money. In January 1642 Hotham was ordered by Parliament to seize the town of Hull, where there was a large store of munitions of war; this was at once carried out by his son John Hotham the younger. Hotham senior took command of Hull and in April 1642 refused to admit King Charles I to the town. Later he promised his prisoner, George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, that he would surrender the town to the king, but when Charles appeared again he refused a second time and drove away the besiegers. Meanwhile, Hotham the younger was taking an active part in the Civil War in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, but was soon at variance with other parliamentary leaders, especially with Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas Fairfax, and complaints about his conduct and that of his troops were made by Oliver Cromwell and by Colonel John Hutchinson. Soon both the Hothams were corresponding with the Earl of Newcastle, and Hotham the younger was probably ready to betray Hull; these proceedings became known to Parliament, and in June 1643 father and son were captured and taken to London.
Sir John married five times and had sixteen children of whom six sons and three daughters survived childhood.
Firstly, on 16 February 1607, to Katherine Rodes, daughter of Sir John Rodes of Barlborough, Derbyshire. By Katherine, who brought a dowry of 1,000 marks, he had two sons and two daughters, who all predeceased their father, including:
*John Hotham the younger, eldest son and heir apparent, who with his father was accused of treachery, found guilty and executed.
Secondly, on 16 July 1614 to Anne Rokeby, daughter and heiress of Ralph Rokeby, Deputy Secretary of the Council in the North 1587–95, by whom he had three sons, including:
*Rev. Charles Hotham, Rector of Wigan, a Cambridge scholar and author of Ad Philosophiam Teutonicam Manuductio. He supported Parliament during the Civil War, and was ejected as a minister shortly after the Restoration of the Monarchy.
*Durant Hotham, a lawyer, landowner, and East Riding magistrate, author of a Life of Jakob Boehme.
