Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester PC, PC (Ire), FRS (28 April 1756 – 4 July 1826), styled The Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1768 until 1783, The Right Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1783 to 1801, and then known as Lord Pelham until 1805, was a British Whig politician. He notably held office as

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

under Henry Addington from 1801 to 1803.

Background and education

Chichester was the eldest son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Earl of Chichester, and his wife Anne, daughter of Frederick Meinhardt Frankland. The Right Reverend George Pelham was his younger brother. He was educated at

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and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

Political career

Pelham was commissioned as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the Sussex Militia when it was raised by the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

in June 1778, and was subsequently promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and lieutenant-colonel, frequently deputising in command for Richmond. During the summer of 1780 the regiment was at Ranmore Camp near

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, close enough to Sussex for Pelham to stand as a candidate for the county in the general election and to be elected.J.R. Western, ''The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century: The Story of a Political Issue 1660–1802'', London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965. Pelham at History of Parliament.
/ref> Chichester was appointed Surveyor-General of the Ordnance under the Duke of Richmond as Master-General of the Ordnance in Lord Rockingham's second ministry (1782), and

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

in the coalition ministry of 1783 (when he was also appointed to the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

). He represented Carrick in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

from 1783 to 1790 and Clogher from 1795 to 1797. In 1795 he was sworn of the Privy Council and became Irish chief secretary under Pitt's government, retiring in 1798. In the latter year he sat briefly for

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before transferring to Armagh Borough, a seat he held only until the next year. He was

from July 1801 to August 1803 under Addington, who made him

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. Excluding the prime minister, the chancellor is the highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the prime minister ...

in 1803. Pelham went out of office in 1804, and in the next year succeeded to the earldom. He was joint- Postmaster General from 1807 to 1823, and for the remaining three years of his life Postmaster General.

Family

Lord Chichester married Lady Mary Henrietta Juliana, daughter of Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, in 1801. They had four sons and six daughters. Their second son, the Hon. Frederick Thomas Pelham, was a naval commander, while their third son, the Right Reverend John Thomas Pelham, was

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. Lord Chichester died in July 1826, aged 70, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Henry. His daughter Lady Amelia Rose married Major General Sir Joshua Jebb, the Surveyor General of Prisons and designer of Pentonville Prison, the 'Model Prison', on 5 September 1854. The Countess of Chichester died in October 1862, aged 86. His daughter, Lady Lucy Anne Pelham, married Sir David Dundas.

Coat of arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chichester, Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of 1756 births 1826 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Irish MPs 1783–1790 Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish MPs 1798–1800 Pelham of Stanmer, Thomas Pelham, Lord British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Pelham of Stanmer, Thomas Pelham, Lord Pelham of Stanmer, Thomas Pelham, Lord UK MPs who inherited peerages Sussex Militia officers Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Secretaries of State for the Home Department Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Earls of Chichester Postmasters general of the United Kingdom Thomas Commissioners of the Treasury for Ireland Chief secretaries for Ireland Pelham, Thomas Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Leitrim constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tyrone constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Armagh constituencies Leaders of the House of Lords