Sir John Hotham the younger (1610, Yorkshire – 2 January 1645, London), known as Captain Hotham, was an English member of parliament and military commander who fought for the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War.
As a young man, Hotham served in the army of the Prince of Orange during the Thirty Years War in the Netherlands from 1629 to 1631; he may have been present at the 1629 English siege of Bois-le-Duc.
[2] In September 1642, warfare broke out between the Royalist forces loyal to King Charles I and Roundhead supporters of the English parliament.
On 23 April 1642, King Charles demanded entry to Hull, but Hotham's father refused.
In September 1642, Hotham moved from Hull with a detachment of troops to occupy Doncaster.
In February or March 1643, Hotham started negotiating with the Earl of Newcastle, the Royalist commander in Yorkshire at Bridlington, supposedly about a prisoner exchange.
The bad behaviour of Hotham's troops, coupled with what appeared to be attempts by Hotham to co-opt the Parliamentarian officers, raised suspicions with then Colonel Oliver Cromwell and John Hutchinson, the governor of Nottingham Castle.