Henry Cressett Pelham

For the Prime Minister of Great Britain, see Henry Pelham.
Henry Cresset Pelham (Nathaniel Dance-Holland)

Henry Cressett Pelham (1729? – January 1803) was a British politician, known as Henry Pelham until 1792.

The youngest son of Thomas Pelham, he was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and became a fellow of Peterhouse in 1751.[1]

In the same year, he was returned for Bramber as a Government supporter;[2] the electoral patronage there was leased by Lord Archer from Sir Henry Gough, who controlled it.[3] In the 1754 election, he was instead returned for another government borough, Tiverton in Cornwall.[4]

Pelham apparently took little interest in politics, and in 1758, through the patronage of his second cousin once removed, the Duke of Newcastle, obtained an appointment as a Commissioner of Customs. This obliged him to vacate his seat, and he was replaced by Sir Edward Hussey-Montagu. Pelham's political detachment led him to be spared in December 1762, when other relatives of Newcastle were removed from office.[4]

He married Jane, the daughter of Nicholas Hardinge, on 1 September 1767.[5] They had three children:

  • John Cressett Pelham (?1769–1838)
  • Frances Cressett Pelham, married Rev. George Thursby; their descendants became the Thursby-Pelhams
  • Anne Cressett Pelham, married Thomas Papillon

Pelham succeeded his brother John in the Catsfield and Crowhurst estates in 1786.[2] He resigned his Customs office in 1788 and was granted an annual pension of £761.[4] He adopted the additional surname of Cressett in 1792 after inheriting from his niece Miss Cressett, and died in early 1803.[4] He was buried at Cound on 8 January 1803.[6]

  1. ^ "Pelham, Henry (PLHN746H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ a b Sedgwick, Romney R. (1970). "PELHAM, Henry (?1729-1803), of Lee, Kent.". In Sedgwick, Romney (ed.). The House of Commons 1715–1754. The History of Parliament Trust.
  3. ^ Sedgwick, Romney R. (1970). "Bramber". In Sedgwick, Romney (ed.). The House of Commons 1715–1754. The History of Parliament Trust.
  4. ^ a b c d Namier, Lewis (1964). "PELHAM, Henry (?1729-1803), of Lee, Kent.". In Namier, Sir Lewis; Brooke, John (eds.). The House of Commons 1754–1790. The History of Parliament Trust.
  5. ^ Venn appears to have attached certain biographical details for Henry Cressett Pelham to another Henry Pelham, who matriculated at Clare College in 1760; see "Pelham, Henry (PLHN760H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. The latter Henry Pelham has not been identified with certainty.
  6. ^ Cound Parish Registers. 1901. p. 115. Retrieved 28 March 2009.