Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham

Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham of Laughton Bt (1653 – 23 February 1712) was a moderate English Whig politician and Member of Parliament for several constituencies.

Pelham was born in Laughton, Sussex, the son of Sir John Pelham, 3rd Baronet and his wife Lucy Sydney, the daughter of Robert Sydney, 2nd Earl of Leicester. Pelham was educated at Tonbridge Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford.

He sat for East Grinstead from October 1678 till August 1679. In October 1679, he was returned for Lewes, serving until 1702 when he was returned for both Lewes and Sussex, and he subsequently chose to sit for Sussex, a seat he held until 1705.

In 1680, Pelham married Elizabeth Jones, with whom he had 2 daughters, but she died the following year. In 1686, he married Lady Grace Holles (daughter of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare), with whom he had two sons and six daughters. The sons were Thomas Pelham-Holles and Henry Pelham, who both ultimately went on to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

He served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury for three distinct periods (March 1690–March 1692; May 1697–June 1699; and March 1701–May 1702) and in 1706 was elevated to the peerage as Baron Pelham of Laughton, having previously succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1703.

References

*"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
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