Henry Pelham - WikiMili, The Best Wikipedia Reader

Henry Pelham

Last updated

Catherine Manners
​
(m. 1726)​
The Right Honourable
Henry Pelham
FRS
Henry Pelham by John Shackleton.jpg
Pelham by John Shackleton, c. 1752
Prime Minister of Great Britain
In office
27 August 1743 –6 March 1754
Children4
Parent
Alma mater

Henry Pelham FRS (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who served in Pelham's government and succeeded him as prime minister. Pelham is generally considered to have been Britain's third prime minister, after Robert Walpole and the Earl of Wilmington.

Contents

Pelham's premiership was relatively uneventful in terms of domestic affairs, although it was during his premiership that Great Britain experienced the tumult of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. In foreign affairs, Britain fought in several wars. On Pelham's death, his brother Newcastle took full control of the British government.

Early life

Pelham, Newcastle's younger brother, was a younger son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham, and his wife, the former Grace Pelham, Baroness Pelham of Laughton, the daughter of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare, and Grace Pierrepont. He was educated at Westminster School, and matriculated at King's College, Cambridge at Easter 1709, [1] then migrated to Hart Hall, Oxford (the present-day Hertford College), matriculating on 6 September 1710, [2] upon the appointment of his tutor Richard Newton as Principal of Hart Hall. [3]

As a volunteer he served in Dormer's regiment at the Battle of Preston in 1715 and spent some time on the Continent. He was returned as Member of Parliament for Seaford in Sussex by his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, at a by-election on 28 February 1717 and represented it until 1722. [4]

Career

Pelham by Michael Dahl, c. 1720 HenryPelhamYoung.jpg
Pelham by Michael Dahl, c. 1720

Government

Through strong family influence, and the recommendation of Robert Walpole, he was chosen in 1721 as Lord of the Treasury. At the 1722 general election he was returned as MP for Sussex county. [4] In 1724 he entered the ministry as Secretary at War, but this office he exchanged in 1730 for the more lucrative one of Paymaster of the Forces. He made himself conspicuous by his support of Walpole on the question of the excise. He, Newcastle, and the Prime Minister would often meet at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, where they would draw up much of the country's policy. These meetings became known as the Norfolk Congress. With Walpole, he served as a founding governor of the popular charity the Foundling Hospital when it opened its doors in 1739. Like his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, Pelham was an active freemason of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, active alongside John Theophilus Desaguliers. [5]

In 1742 a union of parties resulted in the formation of an administration in which Pelham became Prime Minister the following year, succeeding the Earl of Wilmington after his death.

Prime Minister

Appointment

Pelham, attributed to John Giles Eccardt Henry Pelham (1694-1754).jpg
Pelham, attributed to John Giles Eccardt

The first year of Pelham's premiership is regarded as a continuation of the Carteret ministry, with Lord Carteret continuing as Secretary of State for the Northern Department with responsibility for foreign affairs; Carteret was close to King George II. Pelham served as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons.

In November 1744, the Pelhams forced Lord Carteret out of the ministry: Pelham bluntly told the king that either Carteret step down, or the Pelhamites would, leaving His Majesty without a government. Thereafter Pelham shared power with his brother, the Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne. Pelham was regarded as the leading figure, but rank and influence made his brother very powerful in the Cabinet. In spite of a genuine attachment, there were occasional disputes between them, which sometimes led to further difficulties.

"The Broad-Bottomed Administration"

Being strongly in favour of peace, Pelham carried on the War of the Austrian Succession with languor and indifferent success, but the country, wearied of the interminable struggle, was disposed to acquiesce in his foreign policy almost without a murmur. King George II, thwarted in his own favourite schemes, made overtures in February 1746 to Lord Bath, but his purpose was upset by the resignation of the two Pelhams (Henry and Newcastle), who, after a two-day hiatus in which Bath and Carteret (now earl Granville) proved unable to form a ministry, resumed office at the king's request. One of their terms was to insist that the king should have 'total confidence' in a ministry; rather than partial grudging acceptance of the Whigs.

Henry Pelham, by William Hoare, c. 1743 Henry Pelham by William Hoare, 1743.jpg
Henry Pelham, by William Hoare, c. 1743

The Augustan era was essential to the development of prime ministerial power as being entirely dependent on a Commons majority, rather than royal prerogative interventions. While the king struggled with his headstrong son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, his son's uncertain constitutional position was high in the Leicester House party set. In 1748 Frederick, a Tory, planned to bring down the Pelhamites at a general election due the following year. The Prime Minister called an early poll in 1748 by asking the king to dissolve parliament in 1747. The prince and his father, the king grew to hate one another with unspeakable animosity. But one consequence was a closer relationship between Henry Pelham and the Sovereign. When he finally died in 1754, the King remarked "Now I shall have no more peace." The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in 1748 leading inexorably to a number of cost-cutting budgetary measures.

Economic reform

The Army and Navy spending shrunk from £12 m to £7 million per annum. Pelham promised to reduce interest rates through introduction of a balancing act measure from 4% to 3% by 1757. He also assisted a fund to reduce the National Debt. In 1749, the Consolidation Act was passed, reorganising the Royal Navy. On 20 March 1751, the British calendar was reorganised as well (New Year's Day became 1 January); Britain would adopt the Gregorian calendar one year later. In 1752 he was able to reduce the land tax from 4 s to 2 s in the pound (an effective reduction from 20% to 10%).

One social consequence of the press gangs going to sea in an expansive navy fleet was the growth of industrial processes necessary for warfare. The distillation of gin reduced the price of alcohol, resulting in widespread drunkenness, demonstrated clearly by Hogarth in "Gin Lane". Preaching in favour of temperance, and social problems caused by drunken soldiers and sailors, persuaded the administration to introduce the Gin Acts. The Gin Act 1751 was the last of four that had largely failed to prevent serious social unrest, including riots in London, reduced the number licensed dealers and sellers of liquor. By restricting supply the consumption dropped and price fell helping to manage the problem. [6]

Death

Two of Pelham's final acts were the Jew Bill of 1753, which allowed Jews to become naturalized by application to Parliament, and the Marriage Act of 1753, which enumerated the minimum age of consent for marriage. Upon his death, his brother (the aforementioned Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne) took over government.

Achievements

His very defects were among the chief elements of Pelham's success, for one with a strong personality, moderate amount self-respect, or haughty conceptions of statesmanship could not have restrained the discordant elements of the cabinet for any length of time the way he did. Moreover, he possessed tact and a thorough acquaintance with the forms of the House of Commons. Whatever quarrels or insubordination might have existed within the cabinet, they never broke out into open revolt. His foreign policy followed Walpole's model of emphasizing peace and ending wars. His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748 to end the War of the Austrian Succession. [7] He demobilized the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12 million to £7 million. He refinanced the national debt dropping the interest from 4% to 3%. In 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound; that is, from 20% to 10%. [8] [9] According to historians Stephen Brumwell and W. A. Speck, his

subdued manner concealed a shrewd and calculating politician. He was reserved and cautious, but behind the reserve was steel. All agreed on his integrity, which was remarkable in a venal age; unlike Walpole, he died relatively poor. [8]

Personal life

Blue plaque located at Henry Pelham's home in Westminster Henry Pelham (c.1695-1754) Prime Minister lived here - Blue Plaque.JPG
Blue plaque located at Henry Pelham’s home in Westminster

Pelham married Lady Catherine Manners, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Rutland, on 31 October 1726 in the Parish of St James, City of Westminster. [10] They had four daughters:

When Pelham was elevated to Prime Minister, he began construction of a house located at 22 Arlington Street in St James's, Westminster. He hired the architect William Kent to build the structure in two phases. [11] Kent died in 1748 [12] and the work was completed by Stephen Wright [13] in 1754. [11]

Pelham died in 1754 and was buried in All Saints' Church, Laughton, East Sussex. [14] His personal papers were inherited by his son-in-law and now form part of the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection held at the department of Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham. Pelham was the first British Prime Minister who did not accede to the peerage.[ citation needed ]

Ancestry

Pelham was played by Roger Allam in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides .[ citation needed ]

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry Pelham
Arms of Pelham.svg
Crest
A peacock in its pride Argent.
Escutcheon
Azure three pelicans Argent vulning themselves in the breast Gules.
Motto
Vincit Amor Patriae(Love Of One's Country Prevails)

Notes

  1. ↑ "Pelham, Henry (PLHN709H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ↑ Foster, Joseph. "'Peach-Peyton', in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 1131-1154". British History Online. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Courtney, William Prideaux (1894). "Newton, Richard (1676-1753)"  . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 40. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. 1 2 "PELHAM, Hon. Henry (1695-1754), of Esher Place, Surr". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  5. ↑ Gilbert W. Daynes (1 December 2019). "Freemasonry and Social England in the Eighteenth Century". The Skirret. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Brumwell, p.159
  7. ↑ Williams, Basil (1962). Whig Supremacy: 1714–1760. pp. 259–270.
  8. 1 2 Brumwell, Stephen; Speck, W. A. (2002). Cassell's Companion to Eighteenth Century Britain. p. 288.
  9. ↑ Marshall, Dorothy (1974). Eighteenth Century England. pp. 221–227.
  10. ↑ The Register of Marriages in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754. 31 October 1726.
  11. 1 2 "About this project". Architecture. London, England: The Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "William Kent". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. England: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Historic England. "Location Wimbourne House, 22, Arlington Street SW1 (1066498)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  14. ↑ PelODNB.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham</span> Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him Chatham or William Pitt the Elder to distinguish him from his son William Pitt the Younger, who was also a prime minister. Pitt was also known as the Great Commoner, because of his long-standing refusal to accept a title until 1766.

The Whigs were a political faction and then a political party in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals, the Tories. The Whigs merged into the Liberal Party with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s. Many Whigs left the Liberal Party in 1886 to form the Liberal Unionist Party, which merged into the Conservative Party in 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George II of Great Britain</span> King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1760

George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 (O.S.) until his death in 1760.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Walpole</span> Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1721 to 1742

Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford,, known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons, is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Great Britain</span> Constitutional monarchy in Western Europe (1707–1801)

Great Britain, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1707 until 1801. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but distinct legal systems—English law and Scots law—remained in use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville</span> British statesman (1690–1763)

John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, 7th Seigneur of Sark,, commonly known by his earlier title Lord Carteret, was a British statesman and Lord President of the Council from 1751 to 1763 and worked extremely closely with the Prime Minister of the country, Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, in order to manage the various factions of the Government. He was Seigneur of Sark from 1715 to 1720, when he sold the fief. He held the office of Bailiff of Jersey from 1715 to 1763.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire</span> 5th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1756 to 1757

William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the first son of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Catherine Hoskins. He is also a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of King Charles III through the king's maternal great-grandmother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath</span> English politician and peer (1684–1764)

William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, was an English Whig politician and peer who sat in the British House of Commons from 1707 to 1742 when he was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Bath by George II of Great Britain. He is sometimes represented as having served as First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of Great Britain as part of the short-lived ministry in 1746, although most modern sources do not consider him to have held the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle</span> 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1754–56 and 1757–62

Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, was an English Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain, his official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington</span> Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1742 to 1743

Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death in 1743. He sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1698 and 1728, and was then raised to the peerage and sat in the House of Lords. He served as the prime minister of Great Britain from 1742 until his death in 1743. He is considered to have been Britain's second prime minister, after Robert Walpole, but worked closely with the Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, in order to secure the support of the various factions making up the government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke</span> British lawyer and statesman (1690–1764)

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1756 and 1757 until 1762.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Chichester</span> Peerage

Earl of Chichester is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The current title was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1801 for Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baron Pelham of Stanmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carteret ministry</span> Government of Great Britain

The Carteret ministry was the Whig government of Great Britain that held office from 1742 to 1744, following the defeat of the Walpole ministry by a margin of one vote. The nominal head of the ministry was Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, until his death in 1743. He was succeeded in the role of prime minister by Henry Pelham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Bottom ministry</span> Government of Great Britain

The Broad Bottom ministry was the factional coalition government of Great Britain between 1744 and 1754. It was led by the two Pelham brothers in Parliament, Prime Minister Henry Pelham in the House of Commons and the Duke of Newcastle in the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet</span> 18th-century English Jacobite politician

Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1710 to 1740. He served as Secretary at War in 1712 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1713 during the reign of the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne (1702–1714). He was a Jacobite leader firmly opposed to the Hanoverian succession and was leader of the Tory opposition in the House of Commons during the reign of King George I (1714–1727) and during the early years of King George II (1727–1760).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle</span>

Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was born in London, the second son of the 7th Earl of Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave</span> English politician and peer

James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, was an English politician and peer who is sometimes regarded as one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in British history. His brief tenure as First Lord of the Treasury is lent a more lasting significance by his memoirs, which are regarded as significant in the development of Whig history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Finch (diplomat)</span> British diplomat and Whig politician

William Finch of Charlewood, Hertfordshire, was a British diplomat and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1761. He was considered an indolent diplomat and became an opponent of Walpole, but maintained his post in the Royal Household for over 20 years until he began to lose his senses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobhamites</span> 18th-century British political faction

The Cobhamite faction were an 18th-century British political faction built around Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham and his supporters. Among its members, the group included the future Prime Ministers William Pitt and George Grenville. They had a general Whig philosophy and were at first supporters of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole but later became opponents of his administration.

In British politics, a Whig government may refer to the following British governments administered by the Whigs:

References