Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clinton, Henry Fiennes
CLINTON, HENRY FIENNES, ninth Earl of Lincoln and second Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (1720–1794), was the second son of Henry Clinton, seventh earl of Lincoln, K.G., P.O., paymaster-general of the forces, cofferer of the household, and constable of the Tower, by Lucy Pelham, daughter of Thomas, first lord Pelham, and sister of Thomas, duke of Newcastle, and the Right Honourable Henry Pelham, prime ministers of England. He was born on 24 April 1720, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and succeeded his brother George as ninth earl of Lincoln on 30 April 1730. Soon after coming of age, in 1742, he was appointed a lord of the bedchamber by his uncle, Henry Pelham, the prime minister, whose elder daughter, Catherine Pelham, he married on 16 Oct. 1744. This marriage and his relationship to the Pelhams secured him further advancement; he was made lord-lieutenant of the counties of Cambridgeshire in 1742 and Nottinghamshire in 1768, was sworn of the privy council, and appointed cofferer of the household in 1746, received two lucrative sinecures, the offices of auditor of the exchequer, and comptroller of the customs in the port of London; was made a knight of the Garter in 1751, and appointed high steward of Westminster in 1759. His relationship to the Pelhams brought him still higher rank, and on 17 Nov. 1768 he succeeded his uncle, Thomas Pelham, as second duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, under a special patent, dated 13 Nov. 1756, by which Thomas Pelham, duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne, was created Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, with remainder to his nephew, the Earl of Lincoln, when he resigned the prime ministership. The second Duke of Newcastle, who added the name of Pelham to his own by royal license, did not play any very great part in politics, though his great borough influence made his assistance eagerly sought by every section of the whig party. He kept himself, however, free from political life, and preferred the pleasures of the country and of sport. He died on 22 Feb. 1794, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, Thomas Pelham Clinton, a major-general in the army, as third duke of Newcastle.
[Collins's Peerage of England, ed. Brydges, vol. ii.; Foster's Peerage; Gent. Mag. March 1794.]