Sir Charles Hotham was the governor of Victoria in 1854 and 1855. He was born in Suffolk, in England, and arrived in the colony during disputes on the Victorian goldfields. He promised miners the right to vote, but only if they paid for gold-mining licences. At Ballarat, miners refused and burnt their licences. Hothman sent troops there and they stormed the Eureka Stockade. In 1855, he appointed a commission to look into miners' grievances.