Constituency Dates
Seaford 23 Feb. 1671
Sussex 1679 (Oct.)
Seaford 1689
Lewes 24 Nov. 1702 – 1705, 27 Jan. 1726 – 1727
Family and Education
b. c. 1650, 3rd s. of Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Bt.†, of Halland, being o. s. by 3rd w. Margaret, da. of Sir Henry Vane†, sec. of state 1640–1, of Fairlawn, Kent; half-bro. of Sir John Pelham, 3rd Bt.*; educ. ?Eton 1661–5; Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 13 May 1665, aged 14, MA 1665. m. 26 Nov. 1674, Jane, da. and coh. of James Huxley† of Dornford, Oxon., 2s. 1da. Kntd. 20 Apr. 1661.1 J. Comber, Suss. Geneal. Lewes, 208, 211; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 136; Misc. Gen. et Her. ser. 2, ii. 236.
Offices Held

Commr. recusants 1675.2 Cal. Treas. Bks. iv. 697.

Asst. Saltpetre Co. 1692.3 Sel. Charters, 235.

Address
Main residence: Catsfield Place, Suss.
biography text

Pelham seems to have had little real interest in political affairs, but from time to time he dutifully occupied one of the family seats to keep out interlopers. He was returned at a by-election for Lewes in 1702, when his nephew, Thomas Pelham I, chose to sit for the county. A Whig, like all his family, Pelham voted on 13 Feb. 1703 for agreeing with the Lords’ amendments to the bill for enlarging the time for taking the oath of abjuration, was forecast as a probable opponent of the Tack and duly voted against it or was absent on 28 Nov. 1704. He was an inactive Member, the Journals only recording a 14-day grant of absence to him on 10 Jan. 1705. He contested the county unsuccessfully in 1710 and sat briefly for Lewes in the reign of George I. Pelham died on 8 Nov. 1739 in his 90th year.4 Gent. Mag. 1739, p. 605.

Author
P.W.
Volume
Commons 1690-1715
Notes
  • 1. J. Comber, Suss. Geneal. Lewes, 208, 211; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 136; Misc. Gen. et Her. ser. 2, ii. 236.
  • 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. iv. 697.
  • 3. Sel. Charters, 235.
  • 4. Gent. Mag. 1739, p. 605.