Edward Sotheby

Admiral Sir Edward Southwell Sotheby (14 May 1813 – 6 January 1902) was an English naval officer in the Royal Navy. Early life and education Sotheby was born at Clifton, Bristol, the second son of Admiral of the Blue Thomas Sotheby (1759–1831), and his second wife, Lady Mary Anne (d. 1830), fourth daughter of Joseph Bourke, 3rd Earl of Mayo and Archbishop of Tuam. The poet William Sotheby (1757–1833) was his uncle and Rear-Admiral Charles Sotheby his cousin. He was from the southern branch of the famed Sotheby family from Yorkshire, which found success as auctioneers. He attended the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, entering the Royal Navy on 3 August 1826, aged 13. Career Sotheby passed the Royal Navy examination in 1832 before going to sea. He was commissioned as a lieutenant, 3 October 1835. He served on during the 1840 operations off the coast of Syria during the Egyptian–Ottoman War. For his services during the conflict, he was promoted to commander on 30 October 1841. He saw conflict again on Dido in 1842 during the First Opium War, when the British unleashed "gunboat diplomacy" to defeat the Chinese. In 1846–1847, he commanded against the Māori in the New Zealand Wars. In 1850, he took command of and exerted himself in the suppression of the slave trade along the west coast of Africa. He was promoted to captain in September 1852.