Nicholas Pelham

Not to be confused with Nicholas Pelham (died 1560).

Nicholas Pelham

Sir Nicholas Pelham (1650 – 8 November 1739) was a British politician.

The third son of Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet (but the first by Thomas' third wife Margaret), Pelham was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.

Pelham was knighted on 20 April 1661, and served in several post-Restoration Parliaments for Seaford and Sussex, and then in Lewes from 1702 to 1705. He married Jane Huxley, daughter of James Huxley of Dornford, by whom he had two sons and one daughter:

• Thomas Pelham (c.1678–1759)
• James Pelham (c.1683–1761)
• Margaret Pelham, married Sir William Ashburnham, 2nd Baronet

In 1726, his great-nephew, the Duke of Newcastle, brought him back into Parliament at Lewes, at the by-election that ensued after the death of another of Nicholas's great-nephews, Henry Pelham; Henry's brother Thomas had declined to take the seat until after he returned from Constantinople. However, Thomas was again in England by the next general election in 1727, and Sir Nicholas stood down in his favour. Sir Nicholas died at an advanced age in 1739.

References

• Sedgwick, Romney (1970). The House of Commons 1715–1754. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 333.