ANDERSON PELHAM, Charles (1749-1823), of Brocklesby, Lincs.

Anderson Pelham, the owner of large estates in Lincolnshire, was said in 1780 to be ‘one of the richest commoners in England’.1Eng. Chron. 1780. He had an interest at Grimsby and at Beverley, and in 1768, while still under age, was returned unopposed at Beverley. In 1774, and at all his subsequent elections, he was returned unopposed for Lincolnshire. In Parliament he voted with Opposition on the Middlesex election, 15 Apr. 1769; regularly opposed North’s Administration till its fall; voted against Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, and was classed by Robinson in March 1783 as a follower of Fox. He voted for Pitt’s parliamentary reform proposals, 7 May 1783; did not vote on Fox’s East India Bill, 27 Nov. 1783, but was listed by Robinson in January 1784 as a Foxite. Sir John Sinclair, in a list drawn up early in January, notes about him: ‘wants a peerage, which would secure him and his brother’s vote’.2Sinclair mss. at Thurso East Mains. This was not forthcoming and Anderson Pelham opposed Pitt’s Administration till the outbreak of war with France. He is reported to have spoken only once in the House, during a debate on Ireland, 7 Apr. 1778.

He died 22 Sept. 1823.