- GB-2014-WSA-13690
- Person
- 1695-1754
PELHAM, HON. HENRY, brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (qv); b. c. Jan 1695; at school under Knipe (Steward, Anniversary Dinner 1726-7); King’s Coll. Cambridge, adm. fellow commoner, matr. Easter 1709; migrated to Hart Hall, Oxford, matr. 6 Sep 1710; perhaps Grand Tour (a H. Pelham was in Italy 1711-2); Capt., Dormer’s Regt., 22 Jul 1715; served against Jacobites at Preston; MP Seaford Feb 1717-22, Sussex from 1722; a supporter and close associate of Sir Robert Walpole; Treasurer of the Chamber 25 May 1720 – Mar 1722; a Lord of the Treasury 3 Apr 1721 – Mar 1724; Secretary at War 1 Apr 1724 – May 1730; Privy Councillor 1 Jun 1725; Paymaster-General of the Forces 8 May 1730 – Aug 1743; First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer 25 Aug 1743 – 11 Feb 1745 and from 14 Feb 1745; opposed to the pro-Hanoverian foreign policy followed by his ministerial colleague John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville (qv), and on Carteret’s dismissal rearranged the ministry on a “broad-bottom” basis by including several Tories; resigned office briefly in Feb 1745, but resumed office after Carteret and William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath (qv) had failed to form a ministry; acted as one of the Lord Justices during George II’s absences abroad 1743, 1745, 1750 and 1752; a good man of business and an able financier; Busby Trustee 25 Feb 1741/2; m. 29 Oct 1726 Lady Catherine Manners, eldest dau. of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland KG; d. 6 Mar 1754. DNB.