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Eighteenth Century British Prime Minister No.3

• Henry Pelham
  • Life: 25 September, 1694 – 6 March, 1754
• Administration: 27 August, 1743 – 6 March, 1754
  • Age in office: 48-59 years old
  • Duration of administration: (10 years and 192 days)
  • Political faction: Whig
  • Predecessor: Earl of Wilmington
  • Successor: Duke of Newcastle

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‘PM on the Pan’ Take Aways

• Broad Bottom Ministry: Pelham’s administration is commonly referred to as the Broad Bottom Ministry after he brought some Tories into his Whig-led administration, a clever, and necessary, political manoeuvre to force George II to give up his preference for the powerful John Carteret, enabling Pelham to create a Government he could control.
• Political family: His father Thomas Pelham was a Treasury lord in William III’s reign and his older brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, had two goes at Prime Minister (1754-1756 and 1757-1762). Robert Walpole was his political mentor.
• Died in office: Just like his predecessor, the Earl of Wilmington, Pelham died in office, at the age of 59.
• Jacobite rebellion: Pelham led the Government during the big Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and it was him who bought the Duke of Cumberland back from Flanders to join the fight and defeat the rebels at Culloden in 1746.
• Acts of Parliament: His government bought some interesting Acts, including:
  • British Calendar Act (1751) – Switched the national calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian, much more widely used in Europe, resulting in the loss of 11 days.
  • The Gin Act (1751) – Sorely needed regulation on alcohol consumption.
  • The Jew Act (1753) – Allowed Jews to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance without using the word ‘Christian’ – enabling them to take up public office.
• Didn’t enrich himself: When he died, he was far from well off, even though he held many government posts which he could have used to add to his fortune. Stuart Handley in his biographical essay in The Prime Ministers sums up Pelham nicely: “…he was unspectacular, quiet, calm and courteous; in more modern parlance, he was strong and stable.”

Check out my PMs on the Pan series of posts

Here’s the full list of Eighteenth century British Prime Ministers. Note there were 16 administrations, but 14 Prime Ministers and that’s because two of them held office twice (Newcastle and Rockingham). Two others held office twice (Portland and Pitt the Younger), but their second terms were in the Nineteenth century. The text in bold highlights the name they’re commonly known by.

1. 1721-1742: Sir Robert Walpole
2. 1742-1743: Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington
3. 1743-1754: Henry Pelham
4. 1754-1756: Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (I)
5. 1756-1757: William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
6. 1757-1762: Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (II)
7. 1762-1763: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
8. 1763-1765: George Grenville
9. 1765-1766: Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (I)
10. 1766-1768: William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham
11. 1768-1770: Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
12. 1770-1782: Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (Lord North)
13. 1782: Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (II)
14. 1782-1783: William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
15. 1783: William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (I)
16. 1783-1801: William Pitt the Younger (I)

Sources for information about Henry Pelham

The Prime Ministers, Iain Dale (2020) (Pelham article by Stuart Handley)
UK History of Government blog – Henry Pelham
British Parliamentary Parties 1742-1832, BW Hill (1985)
Wikipedia: Henry Pelham