PELHAM, Sir Henry (1696-1754), prime minister of England, was the younger brother of Thomas Holies Pelham, duke of Newcastle, and was born in 1696. He was educated by a private tutor and at Christ Church, Oxford, which he entered in July 1710. As a volunteer he served in Dormer’s regiment at the battle of Preston in 1715; subsequently he spent some time on the Continent, and in 1718 entered parliament for Seaford, Sussex. Through strong family influence and the recommendation of Walpole he was chosen in 1721 a lord of the treasury. The following year he was returned for Sussex county. In 1724 he entered the cabinet as secretary of 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, and during the subsequent attacks, which ultimately led to his resignation in 1742. In the following year a union of parties resulted in the formation of the administration of which Pelham was prime minister, with the additional office of chancellor of the exchequer. Being strongly in favour of peace, he carried on the war 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. The king, thwarted in his favourite schemes, made overtures in 1746 to Lord Bath, but his purpose was upset by the sudden resignation of the Pelhams, who, however, at the king’s request, immediately resumed office. His very defects were, in the peculiar condition of parties, among the chief elements of Pelham’s success, for one with a strong personality, moderate self-respect, or high conceptions of statesmanship could not have restrained the discordant elements of the cabinet ...