Richard Hotham

Sir Richard Hotham (5 October 1722 – 13 March 1799) was an East India merchant, property developer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1780 to 1784. He is especially noted for his development of the Sussex village of Bognor into a seaside resort. He was also sometimes called Hotham the Hatter, to mark his original trade. Early life Hotham was born the youngest of five children in York in October 1722, but otherwise very little is known about his childhood. Having moved to London to become a hatter's apprentice, in 1743, at the age of 21 he married Frances Atkinson, the daughter of his employer, in the chapel of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. By 1746 he was trading as a hatter in his own right from premises in Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, a few years later moving to new premises in The Strand. Hotham's wife Frances died in 1760, and the next year, at the age of 39 he remarried, to Barbara Huddart. At this time he became involved with the East India Company, later working up to having a number of ships under his control – records at the British Library show him as 'Principal Managing Owner' of a number of vessels including the East Indiaman York. He received his knighthood on 2 April 1769 at the relatively young age of 46.