Thomas Pelham (c.1705 – 1 August 1743) was an English politician and diplomat. The patronage of his kinsman, the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Willi ...

, obtained for him an appointment as secretary to British diplomats in France, and a Parliamentary seat at

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, from 1728 to 1741. In the latter year, he took up his father's seat at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

and his seat at the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, but died two years later of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Biography

Thomas Pelham was born in about 1705, the eldest son of Thomas Pelham, of Lewes, and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of

Henry Pelham Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who serv ...

, of Stanmer. He was admitted to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

in 1722. His second cousin once removed, the

, brought him into Parliament at

in 1728, where Thomas Townshend had left a vacancy by opting to sit for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Newcastle's influence also gained Thomas a place in the diplomatic corps, where he served as secretary to the British ambassadors to the

Congress of Soissons {{short description, Peace negotiations between Great Britain and Spain The Congress of Soissons was a diplomatic conference held between a number of European powers, principally Great Britain and Spain, between 14 June 1728 and July 1729 in the Fre ...

from 1728 to 1730, and then as secretary at the British embassy in Paris until 1741. These duties did not keep him from a diligent attendance in Parliament, where he rarely missed recorded votes. On 10 May 1738, Pelham married Sarah Gould, the daughter of John Gould of Hackney, and sister of Nathaniel Gould. They had two sons, Henry and Thomas. At the 1741 election, Pelham stood at

for the seat formerly held by his father, whose neglect of the family electoral interest had nearly cost him his seat in 1734. He and the incumbent, John Morley Trevor, successfully stood off a repeated challenge by Nathaniel Sergison. Pelham also received his father's seat as a Lord of Trade. Not long after, the younger Pelham began to suffer from

, and died of that disease on 1 August 1743, during his father's lifetime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelham, Thomas 1700s births 1743 deaths Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

18th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England