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Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester

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The Earl of Chichester
Home Secretary
In office
30 July 1801 – 17 August 1803
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterHenry Addington
Preceded byThe Duke of Portland
Succeeded byCharles Philip Yorke
Personal details
Born(1756-04-28)28 April 1756
London, England
Died4 July 1826(1826-07-04) (aged 70)
London, England
Political partyWhig, later Tory
Spouse(s)Lady Mary Osborne
(1776–1862)
Alma materClare College, Cambridge

Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester PC, PC (Ire), FRS (28 April 1756 – 4 July 1826), styled The Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1768 until 1783, The Right Honourable Thomas Pelham from 1783 to 1801, and then known as Lord Pelham until 1805, was a British Whig politician. He notably held office as Home Secretary under Henry Addington from 1801 to 1803.

Background and education

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Chichester was the eldest son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Earl of Chichester, and his wife Anne, daughter of Frederick Meinhardt Frankland. The Right Reverend George Pelham was his younger brother. He was educated at Westminster and Clare College, Cambridge.[1]

Political career

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Pelham was commissioned as a captain in the Sussex Militia when it was raised by the Duke of Richmond in June 1778, and was subsequently promoted to major and lieutenant-colonel, frequently deputising in command for Richmond. During the summer of 1780 the regiment was at Ranmore Camp near Dorking in Surrey, close enough to Sussex for Pelham to stand as a candidate for the county in the general election and to be elected.[2] [3]

Chichester was appointed Surveyor-General of the Ordnance under the Duke of Richmond as Master-General of the Ordnance in Lord Rockingham's second ministry (1782), and Chief Secretary for Ireland in the coalition ministry of 1783 (when he was also appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland). He represented Carrick in the Irish House of Commons from 1783 to 1790 and Clogher from 1795 to 1797. In 1795 he was sworn of the Privy Council and became Irish chief secretary under Pitt's government, retiring in 1798.[3]

In the latter year he sat briefly for Naas before transferring to Armagh Borough, a seat he held only until the next year. He was Home Secretary from July 1801 to August 1803 under Addington, who made him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1803. Pelham went out of office in 1804, and in the next year succeeded to the earldom. He was joint-Postmaster General from 1807 to 1823, and for the remaining three years of his life Postmaster General.[3]

Family

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Mary Henrietta Juliana Pelham née Osborne (Richard Cosway)

Lord Chichester married Lady Mary Henrietta Juliana, daughter of Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, in 1801. They had four sons and six daughters. Their second son, the Hon. Frederick Thomas Pelham, was a naval commander, while their third son, the Right Reverend John Thomas Pelham, was Bishop of Norwich. Lord Chichester died in July 1826, aged 70, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Henry. His daughter Lady Amelia Rose married Major General Sir Joshua Jebb, the Surveyor General of Prisons and designer of Pentonville Prison, the 'Model Prison', on 5 September 1854. The Countess of Chichester died in October 1862, aged 86. His daughter, Lady Lucy Anne Pelham, married Sir David Dundas.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Pelham, the Hon. Thomas (PLHN773T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ J.R. Western, The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century: The Story of a Political Issue 1660–1802, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965.
  3. ^ a b c Pelham at History of Parliament.
[edit]
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Sussex
17801801
With: Lord George Henry Lennox 1780–1790
Charles Lennox 1790–1801
Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Carrick
1783–1790
With: George Sandford 1783
Edward King 1783–1790
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Clogher
1795–1798
With: Richard Townsend Herbert
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Armagh Borough
1798–1799
With: Patrick Duigenan
Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Member of Parliament for Sussex
1801
With: Charles Lennox
Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Surveyor-General of the Ordnance
1782–1783
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Chief Secretary for Ireland
1783–1784
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Secretary for Ireland
1795–1798
Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State, Ireland
1796–1797
Succeeded by
Preceded by Home Secretary
1801–1803
Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the House of Lords
1801–1803
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1803–1804
Succeeded by
Preceded by Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard
1804
Succeeded by
Preceded by Postmaster General
1807–1826
With: The Earl of Sandwich 1807–1814
The Earl of Clancarty 1814–1816
The Marquess of Salisbury 1816–1823
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Earl of Chichester
1805–1826
Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Baron Pelham of Stanmer
(writ in acceleration)

1801–1826
Succeeded by