author
Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden
1822–1886
A Royal Navy officer who became famous far beyond Britain, he lived a life full of sea battles, political turns, and bold reinvention. Best known as Hobart Pasha, he later wrote about his adventures with the energy of someone who had truly earned them.
1 Audiobook
Sketches From My Life By The Late Admiral Hobart Pasha
by Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden
About the author
Born in Leicestershire in 1822, he was the third son of the 6th Earl of Buckinghamshire and entered the Royal Navy as a boy. Over the course of his career, he served in anti-slavery patrols and rose to the rank of captain, building a reputation for daring seamanship and independent judgment.
His life took an unusual turn during and after the American Civil War, and he became even more widely known when he entered Ottoman service. Under the name Hobart Pasha, he served as an admiral in the Ottoman navy and played a prominent part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.
He died in Milan in 1886. Remembered as a restless naval adventurer as well as a professional officer, he remains an unusually vivid figure of the nineteenth century, with a story that bridges Britain, the Atlantic world, and the Ottoman Empire.