born 1696
died March 6, 1754, London, Eng.
British prime minister (174354).
He was elected to Parliament in 1717 and, as a supporter of Robert Walpole , became secretary for war (1724) and paymaster of the forces (1730). He succeeded Walpole as prime minister and chancellor of the Exchequer in 1743 and led a stable Whig ministry with parliamentary assistance from his brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of Newcastle . Pelham resisted attempts to prolong the War of the Austrian Succession and signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). After the war, he introduced financial reforms, including lower military expenditures, a reduced land tax, and a consolidation of the national debt.