Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden

Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden Pasha (1 April 1822 – 19 June 1886), also known as Hobart Pasha, was a British Captain, blockade runner and later Ottoman Mushir.

Early life

Hobart-Hampden was born on 1 April 1822 in Walton-on the-Wolds, Leicestershire to Augustus Edward Hobart-Hampden, 6th Earl of Buckinghamshire and Mary Hobart-Hampden (née Williams). Through his mother, Hobart-Hampden was the grandson of John Williams, a barrister, and was the nephew of Sir Edward Vaughan Williams, a judge. The third of four brothers, Hobart-Hampden was the younger brother of Vere Hobart, Lord Hobart, a colonial administrator, the uncle of Sidney Hobart-Hampden-Mercer-Henderson, 7th Earl of Buckinghamshire and the cousin of Roland Vaughan Williams.

Hobart-Hampden was educated at Cheam School.

Royal Navy

In 1835 he entered the Royal Navy and served as a midshipman on the coast of Brazil in the suppression of the slave trade, displaying much gallantry in the operations. In 1842 he passed his examinations at Britannia Royal Naval College. In 1855 he took part, as captain of HMS Driver in the Baltic Expedition, and was actively engaged at Bomarsund and Åbo.As a reward he was promoted to the rank of commander.

In 1862 he retired from the navy with the rank of Captain.

Blockade runner

During the American Civil War, to take the command of a blockade runner. He had the good fortune to run the blockade eighteen times, conveying war material to Charleston and returning with a cargo of cotton.

Ottoman Navy

In 1867 he became “naval adviser to the Ottoman Sultan by his brother's recommendation.” He was immediately nominated to the command of that fleet, with the rank of "Bahriye Livasi" (rear-admiral). In this capacity he performed splendid service in helping to suppress the insurrection in Crete, and was rewarded by the Sultan with the title of Pasha (1869). In 1874 Hobart, whose name had, on representations made by Greece, been removed from the British Navy Directory, was reinstated; his restoration did not, however, last long, for on the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war he again entered Ottoman service.