Pelham

Pelham, The Family of, has produced several distinguished English statesmen. Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of Newcastle (1693-1768), was the son of Thomas, first Lord Pelham, and Lady Grace Holles, daughter of Gilbert Holles, third Earl of Clare. He attached himself to the Whigs, and in 1716 was created Duke of Newcastle. After acting as Secretary of State under Walpole from 1724 to 1738, he began to intrigue against him, encouraging the king's wish for war, and procuring Walpole's downfall in 1742. From 1743 to 1754 he was Secretary of State in the ministry of his brother Henry Pelham, whom he succeeded as First Lord of the Treasury. In 1756 his unpopularity compelled him to resign, but he returned to office in the following year as nominal head of a ministry, the real leader of which was Pitt. In 1762 he retired to make way for Bute. He was afterwards Lord Privy Seal in the short Rockingham Administration of 1765. Newcastle possessed no political gifts of a high order; his long tenure of power was wholly due to his wonderful tact and adroitness in intrigue. His brother, Henry Pelham (1696-1754), became Secretary of State for War in 1724, and Paymaster of the Forces in 1730. After, Wilmington's death in 1743 he became head of a ministry as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, except for a short interval in 1744, remained in power till his death. His ministry, which at first included Carteret and afterwards Pitt and Chesterfield, earned the name of the "Broad Bottom Administration." The War of the Austrian Succession was brought to a close by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Of other measures of the ministry the most important were those connected with the Jacobite rising (1745), Pelham's successful financial bill lowering the interest of the national debt to three per cent. (1750), the reform of the calendar, and Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (1753). Pelham was a skilful financier, and his policy was highly advantageous to British trade. Henry Pelham-Clinton (1811-64), fifth Duke of Newcastle, entered Parliament in 1832, and attached himself to the party of Sir Robert Peel. He was Secretary of State for War during the early part of the Crimean War, and endeavoured to secure an efficient management of the department, but resigned in consequence of the feeling excited against him by the hardships of the troops (1855). He was subsequently Colonial Secretary (1859-64).