Lothair was named after the British Prime Minister's Benjamin Disraeli's 14th novel Lothair published on 2 May 1870. The novel was well received and even Charles Dickens welcomed Disraeli back to the ‘brotherhood of literature’. The first editionsold out immediately. A degree of Lothair mania hit the country with a perfume, a race horse, a street and of course a ship all being named after the novel. A perfume with the name Lothair is still produced today by Penhaligon. Who were perfumer to Queen Victoria. Lothair was launched on 2 July 1870. The launch was celebrated in some style. C. Fox Smith describes the event as follows: Lothair was one of the fastest tea clippers built. On her maiden voyage under Captain Emlyn Peacock, departing London on 10 September 1870, she reached Yokohoma in 135 days. There's is a contemporary description of her speed, quoted in Stuart Rankin's Shipyards, Granaries and Wharves walk: This is quite a compliment - the Flying Dutchman was a ghost ship of maritime legend, and the Thermopylae was renowned as the fastest tea clipper on the sea, a reputation seriously challenged only by the Cutty Sark. Records of some of her achievements as follows:
In 10 September 1870 - 23 January sailed from London to Yokohama in 135 days.
23 March 1871 - 1 July Sailed from Yokohama to New York in 96 days
31 October 1884 - 6 February sailed from Hong Kong to New York in 98 days.
David MacGregor adds that in 1873–4, under the ownership of Killick Martin & Company she made the fastest passage in the fair monsoon hbetween Macao and Deal, which took her only 88 days. She was particularly fast in light winds. In 1873, she was purchased by Killick Martin & Company, the company led by Captain James Killick of ‘Challenger’ fame, and sailed in the tea trade to ports such as London, New York City, Yokohama and Hong Kong. In 1885 when Killick Martin & Company sold Lothair to William Bowen, Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, for use in the SouthAmerican trade - though she also sailed to China again under this ownership she was one of only four tea clippers left afloat and Lothair herself. In 1891 she was sold to G. Buccelli & D. Loero, Genoa, and finally, in 1905 to F.G. Piaggio, Callao. Lothair was lost in 1910.
