James Pelham

Lieutenant colonel James Pelham (c.1683 – 27 December 1761) was a British politician. A second cousin of Henry Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle, he acted as Newcastle's political agent in Sussex for most of his political career, sitting in Parliament from 1722 to 1761 on Newcastle's interest. He served as secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales from 1728 until the Prince's break with the Government in 1737. While he received some sinecures from Newcastle for his political services, he was put to considerable expense in doing so and did not leave a large estate. Biography Pelham was the second son of Sir Nicholas Pelham, of Catsfield and Crowhurst. He got a captain's commission in the 8th Dragoons in 1711 and saw military service during the War of the Spanish Succession. He was promoted captain and lieutenant colonel in the 1st Foot Guards in 1716, but subsequently took up a political career, supported by the friendship of Lord Walpole and his second cousin, the Duke of Newcastle. Pelham served as Newcastle's agent in Hastings during the 1715 and 1722 elections. Newcastle was then Lord Chamberlain, and Pelham was appointed secretary to the Lord Chamberlain in May 1719, retaining the post until his death, although Newcastle vacated the office of Chamberlain in 1724. Newcastle had him returned for Newark in 1722, where Newcastle had a personal electoral interest as lord of the manor of Newark-on-Trent. In the 1727 election, Newcastle put Pelham up as a candidate at both Newark and Bridport, the Admiralty having an interest at the latter. Both were contested, but Pelham was returned in both places, choosing to sit for Newark, where he and Richard Sutton, standing on the Duke of Rutland's interest, had defeated the local businessman Alexander Holden and the Tory Sir Charles Sedley, 1st Baronet. At the coronation of George II in October 1727, he was chosen as one of the barons of the Cinque Ports (representing Hastings) who would bear the canopy over the King and Queen. In 1728, Pelham entered the household of Frederick, Prince of Wales as the Prince's secretary. At the 1734 election, he and Sutton again beat Holden at Newark with an increased majority. In 1736, Pelham took delivery of an elaborate Baroque gold cup, marked with the ostrich-feather badge of the Prince, from George Wickes; the design was reproduced by John Vardy and was widely imitated.