Henry Pelham ( fl. 1640s) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

between 1621 and 1648. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons for a short time in 1647. Pelham was the son of Sir William Pelham, of Brocklesby, Lincolnshire. He matriculated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

at Easter 1615 and was admitted at Gray's Inn on 6 November 1616. Pelham was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

in 1621 and was re-elected in 1625, 1626 and 1628. He sat until 1629, when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, Pelham was elected MP for

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Grantham for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640. He was Grand Chamberlain from 1640 to 1648. He held the post of Speaker for a short time in 1647, when

William Lenthall William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the English Civil War, Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before ...

temporarily fled from London. Pelham was

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Lincoln until his resignation in 1658.

References

*Austin Woolrych ''Soldiers and Statesmen'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelham, Henry Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) Speakers of the House of Commons of England Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Parliament of England for Great Grimsby